Julia S. Rasor and Ned S. Rasor, Inventors

Background

This account is written by inventor Julia S. Rasor, MS, Physiologist, Founder of Rasor Consulting Group, Former Employee of Rasor Associates, Inc. and Daughter of Ned S. Rasor, PhD, Physicist, Founder and CEO of Rasor Associates, Inc.

My parents both passed in the last few years (both nonagenarians) and I, being of a particular age, am reflecting back on the exceptional Family of Origin I, Julia S. Rasor, was lucky enough to be a part of that includes:

Rasor Family of Origin all entrepreneurs

I want to share notable family accomplishments for those interested in the technologies and people who developed them, and for my children, grandchildren, and extended family. A short biography of each of my family members is in the section “Rasor Family of Origin Background and Achievements Summary.” Over time I will be writing and adding more accounts of numerous other family accomplishments as well as adding some additional references.

I am beginning with my first-hand account of just one of the areas my father and I worked on from 1979-1983. The pairing of a physicist father with a physiologist daughter led to foundational inventions in ultrasonic diagnostics, specifically microbubble technology in medicine. This work was performed at his company, Rasor Associates, Inc. after completion of my undergraduate degree and work in the Artificial Heart Program.

First Job After Undergraduate Degree – Artificial Heart Program

In 1974 I graduated from Wright State University, Dayton, OH with my bachelor’s degree in biology and in 1975 went to work for Thoratec Laboratories Corporation, incorporated 1976, that manufactured artificial hearts, to be specific, left ventricular assist devices or LVADs (Thoratec was acquired by St. Jude Medical in 2015, then acquired by Abbott in 2017. The LVADs developed by Thoratec are now manufactured and sold under the Abbott brand).

I was hired to set up and run a benchtop mock circulatory loop and vary the physiologic engineering parameters to assess LVAD performance enabling development, redesign and improvements in the device. I actually drove the disassembled mock loop, in the 1965 MGB given to me by my dad, over the Golden Gate Bridge from Thoratec, then located in Berkeley, CA, to The Institutes of Medical Sciences or IMS located on the campus of Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center, PPMC (now California Pacific Medical Center) in San Francisco, CA. The Institutes of Medical Sciences (now California Pacific Medical Research Institute), was founded by Dr. Frank Gerbode, a significant figure in the history of PPMC who was a cardiovascular surgeon and researcher. He performed one of the first open-heart surgeries west of the Mississippi in 1954, using a heart-lung machine he helped design. I was given a room at IMS and large table to set up the mock loop and test the LVAD in vitro.

The LVADs were being tested in vivo in calves in a lab down the hall from my mock loop lab. My job was expanded by PPMC from mock loop bench studies to coordinating and assisting surgeons with sterile implantation of the LVADs in calves, about 400 surgeries total. I was in charge of the postmortem assessment of the LVAD, disassembling it to draw and describe various deposits contained within. What a fabulous first job for a new graduate scientist – working in the in the Artificial Heart Program! When scientists and physicians visited Dr. Gerbode at IMS he would bring them by my mock loop setup and introduce me as “Ms. Artificial Heart”.

Testing LVADs in vitro and in vivo

To move to the next step in my science career I enrolled at University of California, Davis for my graduate degree in Physiology in 1978. While studying for my degree and performing my thesis research on ventricular fibrillation thresholds, I used my LVAD implantation experience from Thoratec to train and assist surgeons and engineers at the UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Surgery Department in the sterile implantation and evaluation of LVAD power sources in calves for Nimbus, a company developing artificial heart technology. Nimbus was initially an Aerojet spin-out later acquired by Thermo Cardiosystems Inc., which was then acquired by Thoratec Labs. 

After graduating from UC Davis, I went to work as a Senior Scientist at my father’s company, Rasor Associates, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, on microbubble ultrasonic diagnostics.

Rasor Associates, Inc. – Originator of Medical Microbubble Technology

Rasor Associates, Inc. focused mainly on my father’s area of expertise, energy conversion, more specifically thermionic conversion or thermionics. Ned S. Rasor is called by his peers “The Father of Thermionic Conversion”. The efficiency plots in thermionics were developed by my father and are called “Rasor Curves” in the industry. He also worked on medical devices throughout his career. Below is an account of how he began working in microbubble ultrasonic diagnostics.

A good place to start in the microbubble saga is with my father’s fascination with bubbles. My sister, Dina L. Rasor gave the following account. When I was a young girl of seven, my father wanted me to learn about science at an early age. He bought me two books, 101 Science Experiments and Soap Bubbles. He started going through the science experiments with me but was especially fascinated with the book on soap bubbles. He read it to me and explained about the surface tension on bubbles and we experimented with different concentrations of soap to make strong bubbles and fleeting bubbles. He told me then that he would like to think of ideas using bubbles to solve some physics problems.

Then when I was a freshman in college in 1975, I bought a new candy called Pop Rocks (General Foods) that had CO₂ mixed in with a sugar base and it popped and cracked when you put it in your mouth. It was all the rage at the time. My father was picking me up at college and I told him that he had to try them because they popped and made bubbles. He was working on his bubble technology at Rasor Associates, Inc., but I really didn’t know much about it. When he put the Pop Rocks in his mouth and the CO₂ popped, he turned to me in the car with a strange look on his face, probably the same look when most scientists have when they have an ah-ha moment in their work. He said, this is it! I haven’t’ been able to think of how to put the bubbles in a medium to deliver it into vessels, make the bubbles a consistent size, and get them to the part of the body I want! He then started experimenting with making his own Pop Rocks with sugar that could be put into the body, worked on getting consistent sized bubbles, and figuring the right solution for the bubbles to pop where he wanted them in the body. Later, when he picked me up, he had chicken parts in the back seat and when I asked him why, he said that he was trying the different solutions of his Pop Rocks in his lab and seeing where the bubbles were going in the chicken parts with ultrasound. 

My college friends laughed when I told them what he was doing but I knew that this brilliant man was coming up with an innovative idea. I didn’t realize how big this discovery was for medical science and how my Pop Rocks led to ideas in his mind that contributed to medical science. And it all started with a book on soap bubbles.

This idea is what led to a method to measure pulmonary artery pressure noninvasively.

The Foundational Innovation – the First Commercial Ultrasonic Contrast Agent

Following is my first-hand account of my father and my work in ultrasonic diagnostics using microbubble technology. I will cover the progression from microbubble idea inception to development, patents, scientific and medical literature, and first commercial use that establishes priority in this groundbreaking field that revolutionized medical ultrasound imaging.

This work was performed at Rasor Associates, Inc., the company founded by my parents Ned and Genevieve Rasor initially in Kettering, OH in 1968 and later moved to Sunnyvale, CA in 1973. Rasor Associates formed an Ultrasonic Diagnostics division that began with Ned Rasor responding to a government Request for Proposal (RFP) on a method to measure pulmonary artery pressure noninvasively. Rasor Associates was awarded an NIH contract to pursue his method, Tickner EG, Rasor NS: Noninvasive assessment of pulmonary hypertension using bubble ultrasonic ringing pressure (BURP) method. National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, HR-62917-lA, April 1977. The idea was that if very uniform sized pressurized saccharide encapsulated microbubbles, around 100 µm in diameter, were produced (“Pop Rocks” inspiration), they could be injected intravenously in a nonaqueous vehicle, travel to the right atrium where the flow and turbulence of cardiac contractions and valvular motion would free them from the vehicle exposing them to aqueous blood, and when they arrived in the pulmonary artery they would dissolve such that the pressurized microbubbles would be released and oscillate or “ring” at a frequency proportional to the pressure in the chambers around them – this signal was picked up with an ultrasonic transducer placed on the chest. With this method, pulmonary artery pressure and blood flow was measured noninvasively. This is the BURP patent: US 4,265,251 Application March 16, 1979, Publication January 13, 1981, Method of Determining Pressure Within Liquid Containing Vessel, Inventor – Tickner EG.

Rasor Associates also conceived and produced gelatin encapsulated microbubbles, around 75 µm in diameter, as a contrast agent for ultrasonic image enhancement US 4,276,885 Priority May 4, 1979, Application May 4, 1979, Publication July 7, 1981, Ultrasonic Image Enhancement, Inventors – Tickner EG, Rasor NS.

Below I describe how I discovered and developed the first commercial ultrasonic contrast agent ECHOVIST® when I began working at Rasor Associates. This contrast agent consisted of a precursor substance that produces microbubbles, US 4,442,843A Patent, Priority November 17, 1980, Application November 17, 1981, Publication April 17, 1984, Microbubble Precursors and Methods for Their Production and Use, Inventors – Rasor, Julia S, Tickner EG.

What this invention, a precursor substance that produces microbubbles, made possible was easy manufacture of a substance that produced microbubbles in situ rather than having to encapsulate microbubbles individually or in batches which was complicated, time consuming, expensive and produced larger microbubbles.

This discovery over the years has evolved into an entire new industry in medicine from microbubbles initial use as an ultrasound contrast agent to a versatile platform for targeted drug and gene therapy, drug delivery, and diagnostics in cardiology, vascular, oncology, hepatic, nephrology, gene therapy, engineering and regenerative medicine. Not too long after leaving Rasor Associates I counted 17 companies that were pursuing microbubble technology. The contrast-enhanced ultrasound market is expected to remain steadily growing from 2025 to 2035 due to the increasing demand for non-invasive, radiation-free diagnostic imaging, awareness of the advantages of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound or CEUS, and the applications seen in oncology, cardiology, and vascular imaging. CEUS uses gas-filled or gas-releasing microbubble contrast agents to enhance the reflection of ultrasound signals, improving visualization of blood flowing and tissue vascularization, thus avoiding risks related to ionizing radiation. The market is further supported by technological advancements in ultrasound systems, increased safety and cost-effectiveness compared to CT and MRI, and wider acceptance in outpatient and critical care settings. Clinical guidelines are also evolving to support CEUS in liver lesion characterization, kidney imaging, and pediatric assessments. The contrast-enhanced ultrasound market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6%, rising from USD 3.2 billion in 2025 to approximately USD 5.5 billion by 2035.

I actually stumbled across what turned out to be the first commercial ultrasonic contrast agent. I was working at Rasor Associates, Inc. in the lab on a benchtop mock circulatory loop for ultrasonic testing. It consisted of a PVC tubing circulatory loop with a left ventricular assist device that provided pulsatile flow, and a latex cast of a pulmonary artery where the ultrasonic transducer was positioned. There was a simple M-mode ultrasound unit for imaging. I was testing the Bubble Ultrasonic Ringing Pressure or BURP pressurized saccharide encapsulated microbubbles manufactured by Rasor Associates. These BURP microbubbles were rather large, around 100 µm in diameter, so needed to be suspended in some manner by a vehicle so they could be injected with a syringe otherwise they would settle and pack up in the syringe and would not exit. The vehicle that was being used at the time was a slurry that consisted of ground up sugar suspended in a polyalcohol such as glycerol. When this vehicle plus BURP microbubbles mixture was injected in the “peripheral vasculature” of mock circulatory loop it caused high contrast signals on M-mode ultrasound. Of course, I assumed that those reflective gas signals were from the encapsulated BURP microbubbles. But when I performed a control experiment of injecting just the vehicle without the encapsulated BURP microbubbles, the contrast level was the same! Wondering what the explanation of this was, I took the slurry and put it under a microscope, then added water, and alas, a haze of very small, around 10 µm, microbubbles rose from the slurry.

Learning of this new phenomenon, I tested many different kinds of sugars that could be ground and put in a polyalcohol slurry to test their microbubble release volume and size. I spent a year under a microscope and performing mock loop ultrasound testing making slurries, adding water and taking measurements and concluded that the best sugar to use for the contrast agent was galactose. Then Rasor Associates created a spinoff company of four people in its Ultrasonic Diagnostics division to form a separate company called UltraMed, Inc. which was eventually sold to Schering AG in Berlin Germany. The technologies sold were the galactose ultrasonic contrast agents, BURP method, and Gelatin Encapsulated Microbubble or GEM contrast agent and cardiac output method. Schering was a large company at the time about 10,000 people. Their scientists repeated the work I’d done to select the contrast agent sugar to be used. A year later, they flew me to Berlin to talk to me about the technology and announced that they would be using galactose, the same sugar I chose, to go into production and build $100 million plant to manufacture and produce the galactose ultrasonic contrast agent that they named ECHOVIST®. In vivo experiments I had performed showed ECHOVIST® illuminated the right heart chambers, which was good for delineating the right atrial and ventricular flow patterns through the tricuspid valve as well as the occurrence of left to right shunts which produced a negative contrast effect. When ECHOVIST® exited the pulmonary artery, it essentially dissolved and was removed in the lungs – it did not cross through the pulmonary circulation in great quantity to the left heart.

So, when my father Ned Rasor realized this, he thought about how to stabilize the ECHOVIST® microbubbles so they would transit the pulmonary circulation and illuminate the left heart as well. He remembered his fascination with the book on soap bubbles and realized he needed to put what he Many different surfactants were applied to ECHOVIST® and palmitic acid was chosen as best. Schering AG called this agent LEVOVIST® which was the first agent to demonstrate lung crossing in sufficient quantities to illuminate the left side of the heart via a peripheral venous injection.

This completed a portfolio of ultrasonic diagnostic products that were patented and developed at Rasor Associates, eventually sold to Schering AG in Berlin Germany, that consisted of:

BURP US 4,265,251 pressure measurement (not pursued commercially by Schering AG)

GEM US 4,276,885 image enhancement (not pursued commercially by Schering AG)

ECHOVIST US 4,442,843A, US 4,657,756A, US 4,681,119A image enhancement, right heart (commercialized by Schering AG)

LEVOVIST US 5,141,738A image enhancement, right and left heart (commercialized by Schering AG).

Critical Patent Priority Evidence

My specific invention, the galactose-based contrast agent represented the crucial international patent protection for what would become ECHOVIST®, US 4,442,843A Priority November 17, 1980, Application November 17, 1981, Publication April 17, 1984, Microbubble Precursors and Methods for Their Production and Use, Inventors – Rasor, Julia S, Tickner EG and European Patent EP 0044273, titled Microbubble Precursors filed in 1980. The German Patent DE3324754 ULTRASCHALLKONTRASTMITTEL) further protected this foundational work. Additionally, the World Patent WO 82/01642 (1981) for Ultrasound Imaging Contrast Agents (PCT application) and Canadian Patent CA 1,170,569 (1983) for Microbubble Precursors and Methods for Their Production and Use provided comprehensive international protection.

[To be continued]

Rasor Family of Origin Background and Achievements Summary

Ned S. Rasor, PhD, Engineering Physicist, Entrepreneur

EDUCATION

• Ohio State University, BS Engineering Physics,1948.  1st in class. TAU BETA PI
• University of Illinois, MS, Physics, 1952. Atomic Energy Comm. Fellowship, Solid State Physics.
• Case Western Reserve University (was Case Institute of Technology), Ph.D., Physics, 1955. Westinghouse Fellowship in Physical Metallurgy.

BUSINESS

• Founded and managed six companies, three of which were medical device companies. The others specialized in research and development in energy conversion for space and nuclear reactor applications.  
• Founded and managed Rasor Associates, Inc. for 25 years as its President/CEO along with his wife Genevieve who ran the business aspects. Funded by winning government contracts. It became an internationally recognized center of excellence in energy conversion R&D, and it initiated and developed new types of medical devices that were spun off as new companies to commercialize the technologies.
• Before he founded Rasor Associates, Ned Rasor worked at Atomics International in Los Angeles, CA and Thermo Electron Corporation in Boston MA (2006 Thermo Electron Corporation merged with Fisher Scientific to form Thermo Fisher Scientific).
• In February 1959, Dr. Ned S. Rasor was at Atomics International, a division of North American Aviation. Atomics International engaged principally in the early development of nuclear technology and nuclear reactors for both commercial and government applications, with headquarters in Canoga Park, California. During his time at Atomics International, Rasor conducted crucial work on thermionic nuclear reactors. The first in-core thermionic cell was operated in 1958, and the in-core thermionic reactor was conceived in 1959, with a joint program for development initiated by the AEC and NASA in 1962.
  • Rasor’s conceptual innovation was groundbreaking: He figured that if he had a tube filled with radioactive nuclear fuel, it would start to emit electrons, and he could collect the electrons and make electricity. This was the beginning of the thermionic nuclear reactor. Every time he came up with a solution there was a problem, but he came up with a counter solution, and a counter-counter solution, and eventually his concept worked.
  • This led to patent developments: US Patent 3113091A for a “Nuclear reactor and thermionic fuel element therefor” was filed by inventor Ned S. Rasor (along with Robert L. Hirsch) as an individual. The invention described a nuclear reactor with thermionic fuel elements in which the fissionable material serves as the cathode, providing compact power sources for space exploration and other portable applications.
  • In the early 1960s, he became a vice president in the Boston area firm, Thermo Electron. The plasmatron was studied briefly in the early 1960s, with Ned S. Rasor involved in the research under the encouragement of James F. Morris, head of the Thermionics and Heat Pipe section of the NASA Lewis Research Center.
  • Thermo Electron Corporation was co-founded in 1956 by George N. Hatsopoulos, an MIT PhD in mechanical engineering, and Peter M. Nomikos. Thermo Electron Corporation became a principal investigator of cesium thermionic converters under government R&D contracts, along with other principal contractors like General Electric Company, General Atomic Division of General Dynamics Corporation and RCA.
  • Ned Rasor later worked with Thermo Electron as a consultant and with this own company Rasor Associates. By the 1980s, the collaboration between these organizations and Rasor was well-established: During FY 1986, the Thermionic Technology Program at Thermo Electron Corporation concentrated on advancing the development of cermet sheath insulators and additive converters, based on thermionic technology established by thermionic reactor programs during the 1960s and early 1970s. Improved components fabricated during FY 1986 were delivered to Rasor Associates Incorporated for extensive testing and evaluation. OSTI

Rasor’s work at these institutions during the 1950s and 1960s was foundational to thermionic nuclear power development and led directly to major space reactor programs that would be pursued for decades.

He also led United States scientific exchanges and collaborations with the Soviet Union on various aspects of thermionics in the 1970s and 1980s and was inducted into the Soviet hall of fame in one of their laboratories.

• Testified before the U.S. Congress assisting passage of original SBIR Small Business Innovation Research legislation.
  • SBIR is America’s Seed Fund that awards non-dilutive funding to develop small business’ technology and chart a path toward commercialization. The federal government invests in the company’s solution and gives them the freedom to run their business according to their vision.
  • Received U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator’s Award for Excellence (1966)
  • Ned Rasor then went on to use the SBIR program to invent many new technologies which advanced the government knowledge in various scientific areas.

ENGINEERING PHYSICS

• Inventor of foundational concepts that were the beginning of new industries in energy, medical devices, and astrophysics; his inventions were frequently very much ahead of the times
• Published and presented over 100 papers in the fields of physical metallurgy, solid state and surface physics, nuclear radiation effects, cryogenics, gaseous discharge, thin films, energy conversion, space nuclear power systems, heat transfer, medical devices and astrophysics.
• Patented over 50 inventions in energy conversion and medical devices
• World expert in thermionic energy conversion “Father of Thermionic Conversion”,
  • Internationally recognized authority in engineering physics of thermionic energy conversion and space nuclear power systems
  • Known for “Rasor Plots”, Rasor, Ned S., Correlation of Emission Processes for Adsorbed Alkali Films on Metal Surfaces, Journal of Applied Physics 35, 2589 (1964);
  • Smithsonian Museum expressed interest in having one of Dr. Rasor’s thermionic converters placed there.
• Left a list of 10+ other invention ideas he wanted to pursue

MEDICAL DEVICES

• Founded and incorporated four Rasor Associates spin-off companies: Mission Medical, Inc. (blood processing, acquired by Terumo, Inc.), UltraMed (ultrasonic diagnostic media; acquired by Schering, Gmb), UltraVision, Inc. (advanced contact lens, publicly traded in Canada), and Space Power Inc. (space nuclear power systems; acquired by United Technologies). 
• Invented, researched and developed numerous medical devices including remote surgical robotics, intracardiac pacemaker, blood processing devices, intranasal gas administration devices, percutaneous tracheostomy device, microbubble contrast agent for left heart ultrasonic imaging, instrument using microbubbles to measure non-invasive blood pressure in the heart and great vessels, and an advanced contact lens
• Invented the first totally self-contained intracardiac pacemaker in the 1960/70’s, that is in the Smithsonian Institution and has been commercialized by others only in the last few years around 2015.
  • Rasor, N.S., “Totally Self-Contained Intracardiac Pacemaker”, J. Electrocardiology 3 (3-4), 325 (1970), with W. Spickler, et al.
  • US 3,943,936 SELF POWERED PACERS AND STIMULATORS. Ned S. Rasor, Joseph William Spickler. Assignee Rasor Associates, Inc. Priority Sep 21, 1970, Published March 16, 1976.
• Invented the first published and second marketed left heart ultrasonic contrast agent LEVOVIST® that was introduced in Europe in 1995. It was Rasor Associates’ next generation contrast agent, derived from ECHOVIST® – the first ultrasonic contrast agent invented by daughter Julia S. Rasor
  • LEVOVIST® was developed as a transpulmonary derivative of ECHOVIST®, consisting of galactose microcrystals with the addition of palmitic acid as a surfactant so the microbubbles were stabilized and could transit through the lungs to the left heart.
    • Bommer WJ, Tickner EG, Rasor J, Grehl T, Mason DT, DeMaria AN. Development of a new echocardiographic contrast agent capable of pulmonary transmission and left heart opacification following peripheral venous injection. In Circulation 1980 Jan 1 (Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 34-34)
    • US 5,141,738A (Priority April 15, 1983, Filed March 18, 1991, Publication August 25, 1992) “Ultrasonic contrast medium comprising gas bubbles and solid lipophilic surfactant-containing microparticles and use thereof” Inventors – Rasor, NS, and five Schering inventors.

ASTROPHYSICS

• Explored astrophysics dark matter and gravity in his 80’s until his death at 94, he published seven peer-reviewed journal articles.
  • Rasor, N.S., “Metric Expansion of Space and the Apparent Speed of Light”. Physics Essays, 27, 247-252 (2014).
  • Rasor, N.S., “Summary of a Physical Model for Inertia and Gravitation”, Physics Essays 25, 57 (2012)
  • Rasor, N.S., “Neutrino mass and superluminal speed”, Physics Essays 25(2):239-240, (2012)
  • Rasor, N.S., “Proportional expansion of the universe and quasi-Newtonian dynamics.” Physics Essays, 23, 383-387 (2010)

PERSONAL

• Liked to say “Seize the Day, Carpe Diem” and the Horace Mann quote “Be ashamed to die until you done some victory for humanity.”
• Some favorite fun places were experimenting in his home laboratory and riding his motorcycle with Genevieve and Julia, climbing hills and mountains with Dina and talking to her about politics including how to fix the American system so it would work for everyone.
• LOVED ice cream, dogs, and donkeys!
• Fondest activity – clearing land on his properties (when not solving problems and working in the lab) When he got stuck with one of his concepts, he would clear land or clean springs on his property until the scientific solutions would come to him.

Genevieve M. Rasor, Businesswoman, Counselor, Entrepreneur

BUSINESS

• Founded Rasor Associates, Inc. with her husband Ned
  • Ran the business of the company
  • Was Top Secret Security Officer for Rasor Associates, Inc.
  • Gave up her college education at Ohio State University and worked to support Ned through his PhD and raise their daughters
• Owner of Classic Lines, a high-end women’s clothing and jewelry boutique in Los Altos, CA. One of her repeat customers was Lucile S. Packard of Hewlett Packard.
• She helped run and became a peer counselor for middle aged women who were returning to college or the workforce. This program was run by Mary Despar, a counselor at Foothill College in Los Altos, CA.
• Worked as a voluntary researcher for a California state legislator.
• Purchased family estates with large houses in need of remodeling on acreage with Ned, then she remodeled, decorated, subdivided and sold – a successful repeated income model
• Decorator at Kettering Hospital Gift Shop in Kettering OH for friend Mrs. Virginia W. Kettering, wife of Eugene Kettering and daughter-in-law of inventor Charles F. Kettering. She was a prominent Dayton philanthropist and community leader known for her support of the healthcare community, particularly the Kettering Health network, which was named after her family.

EDUCATION

• She taught and promoted education to her daughters
  • Introduced her daughters to Ms. Magazine, an American feminist magazine co-founded by Gloria Steinem published 1972 through today, and encouraged them to have careers
  • Told her daughters they could do anything they set their minds to
  • Helped Julia start her medical device consulting business
  • Took Dina to Congress to witness the Watergate hearings which lead Dina to a career of Federal fraud investigations.
  • Always supported her children and grandchildren’s entrepreneurial efforts

ART

• She was very artistic and fashionable
  • As a teenager, made beautiful oil paintings.
  • Remodeled and beautifully decorated the family home interiors and landscape areas
  • Fashionable dresser

FAMILY AND FRIEND PHILANTHROPIST

• Any family or friend in need of help or funds was supported

PERSONAL

• Served tea to Orville Wright at the National Cash Register (NCR) in Dayton, OH when in High School
• Loved to ride her motorcycle with Julia and Ned
• Loved to watch political news and congressional hearings and read political books with Dina
• Loved biscuits and gravy and mashed potatoes

Julia S. Rasor, MS, Physiologist, Sculptor, Entrepreneur

EDUCATION

• M.S. in Human Physiology, University of California, Davis; thesis – The effect of ethanol on ventricular fibrillation thresholds in dogs
• B.S. in Biology, minor in Chemistry, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
• Professional Certificate of Engineering Management, University of California, San Diego; 2-year post baccalaureate academic study in management science
• Multidisciplinary Medical Communications Certificate from the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA, Founded in 1940); 1993, 2-year medical writer’s certificate

MEDICAL DEVICES

• Founder of Rasor Consulting Group at MedicalDevice.com
• Inventor, 31 Patents
  • Inventor of the first commercial ultrasonic agent ECHOVIST®, the foundational innovation that revolutionized medical ultrasound imaging – the contrast-enhanced ultrasound market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6%, rising from USD 3.2 billion in 2025 to approximately USD 5.5 billion by 2035.
    • US 4,442,843A April 17, 1984 “Microbubble Precursors and Methods for Their Production and Use” Inventors – Rasor, Julia S, Tickner, EG, Assignee – Schering AG
    • Bommer WJ, Rasor J, Tickner G, Takeda P, Miller L, Lee G, Mason DT, DeMaria AN. Quantitative regional myocardial perfusion scanning with contrast echocardiography. The American Journal of Cardiology. 1981 Feb 1;47:403.
  • Inventor for ProdigyWork’s client, her idea chosen among 85 worldwide inventors’ ideas, later patented
    • US 20150216317 A1 – “Mattresses Including a Chassis Core” – Filed January 20, 2015, Published August 6, 2015, Inventors: Michael S. DeFranks, Rahul Kirtikar, Julia S. Rasor
• Author, over 67 publications.
• Serial Entrepreneur and CEO, Co-Founder of 4 companies, worked for over 60 medical device companies
  • 60 devices – artificial hearts and valves, surgical robots, ultrasonic diagnostics, airway, ablation, arthroscopic, catheters, cartilage and bone substitutes
  • Member of 6 Scientific Advisory Boards
  • Designed, executed, analyzed, published over 100 clinical, preclinical, and bench studies
    • Over 59 clinical studies in USA, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, UK, Israel, South Africa, Japan, Australia
    • Over 40 preclinical studies in USA, Europe, Israel
    • Designed, executed, analyzed, published 9 bench studies
  • Known in the industry for white papers, wrote over 20. Rasor JS. “Producing a white paper:  A parallel path making clinical data available before publication.”  Amer Med Writers H. 1991 Dec;6(4):12.
  • Known in the industry for FDA success, negotiations and white papers, 20 510(k)s, 5 PMAs
• Founder/Inventor CAPNIA Inc (IPO 2014, 2017 Capnia acquired clinical-stage firm Essentialis in a reverse merger changing its corporate name to Soleno Therapeutics that 2026 was acquired by Neurocrine Biosciences for $2.9 billion)
• As CEO, provided required practicum in CAPNIA her start-up company for four Masters Degree candidate students for San Jose State University (SJSU), College of Science, Medical Product Development Management, Masters of Science Program
• Appeared, profiled and published industry articles in various media outlets and trade journals including Silicon Valley Biz Ink, Medical Device Network, BioSpace, Medical Product Outsourcing Magazine, Business Wire, American Medical Writers Association
• Speaker, over 20 engagements
  • American College of Cardiology, presented original research
  • American Heart Association, presented original research
  • Medical Product Outsourcing Magazine, Keynote Speaker at Annual Conference
  • UC Berkeley Center for Executive Development, Haas School of Business, BioEntrepreneurship Certificate Course
  • Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, MBA Class
  • Stanford Student Biodesign (SSB) Careers in Medical Technology Course affiliated with Stanford BioDesign
  • Santa Clara University, Leavey School of Business Annual Conference
  • San Jose State University, College of Science, Medical Product Development Management Masters of Science Program
  • Astia (formerly Woman’s Technology Cluster, WTC)
  • San Jose BioCenter
  • Bio2Device (B2DG)
  • Institute of International Research (IIR)
  • Forum of Women Entrepreneurs (FWE)
  • Women In Consulting (WIC)
  • Biomedical Marketing Association/Clinical Laboratory Managers Association (BMA/CLMA)
  • Human Resources Consultants Association (HRCA)
  • Northern California Human Resources Association (NCHRA)
  • International Angel Investors (IAI)
  • ISIS Services, LLC

SCULPTURE

• Founder of MODE Art Global at JuliaSRasor.com and San Diego Artist Retreat (formerly Rasors Sculptures)
• Built ~250 representational and abstract figurative sculptures from ~6” to 8’6”
• Received 12 awards and recognitions including:
  • 3 First Places
  • Juror of Escondido municipal gallery’s largest annual art show
  • Artivist of the Year by ArtTour International Magazine in collaboration with Artists for a Green Planet honoring artists dedicated to human rights and environmental conservation
  • Digital display of two artworks at the Louvre Museum in Paris and online, also online in the Exposure Award Gallery, and in the published books Exposure Award Collections, The Sky Collection and The Landscape Collection
  • Sculptures installed 5 different years in San Diego Botanic Garden.
• Artworks shown at 50 shows: 9 invitational solo shows, 10 invitational featured artist shows, and 31 other juried exhibitions
• Earned media – profiled in various media outlets including Curiat Magazine, SDVoyager, Contemporary Art Collectors, The Greater Fallbrook Area Sourcebook 2016, The Greater Fallbrook Area Sourcebook 2019, The Village News, All Art All Ways, The Studio Door

PERSONAL

• Fondest activities – in the studio sculpting, singing, and dancing; rock climbing; motorcycle riding; family cruises
• Other activities – yoga, 1st Kyu Shotokan Karate, racing motorcycles, ballroom dancing, triathlons
• Most frequent comment received from strangers and friends – “I love your hair”
• Traveled to over 30 countries: all of the United States (except Alaska), Hawaiian islands, Tahitian Islands, Canada, Mexico, Baja, Caribbean islands, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Curacao, Puerto Rico, Sydney and Melbourne Australia, Tokyo Japan, Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, Beijing and Shanghai China, Johannesburg and Pretoria South Africa, Cairo Egypt, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Israel, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, West and East Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, United Kingdom
• Two very accomplished sons: Grant Rasor-Thompson, Cyber Security Analyst, Biamp and Victor Rasor, Director of Business Development, Pacific Point Home Health

Dina L. Rasor, Investigator, Author, Entrepreneur

EDUCATION

• B.A. in Political Science and Journalism, UC Berkeley, earlier went to Foothill College and served as Student Body President

INVESTIGATOR

• Founded the Project on Military Procurement in 1981 (Now Project on Government Oversight, POGO.org)
  • Served on POGO’s Board of Directors and was Executive Director for ten years. 
  • Researched and publicized many of the major defense scandals of the 1980s such as the infamous $7,600 coffee brewer and the $670 armrest in the C-5 cargo plane, as well as the ineffectiveness of major weapons systems and other procurement fraud. She also worked with the media and Congress to restore the Federal False Claims’ qui tam law that allowed whistleblowers to bring lawsuits on behalf of the federal government to recover fraudulent spending. Did extensive speaking tours on military waste and ineffectiveness, testified numerous times to Congress. On a congressional investigation trip to Ft. Hood Texas, became the first woman to drive and fire the cannon on the M-1 tank.
• Founder and Partner in the Bauman and Rasor Group for over twenty years which did  investigative and consulting work on lawsuits including health care fraud, military procurement fraud and other Federal government fraud, worked with federal whistleblowers and inside government sources and wrote investigative books.
  • Recovered over $200 million dollars to the Federal government coffers from her work on qui tam False Claims Act lawsuits with whistleblowers
• Worked as an investigative journalist for newspapers and television including ABC News and the Associated Press
• Appeared and profiled in various media outlets by Bill Moyers, Phil Donahue, New York Times, Time Magazine, 60 Minutes and dozens of other media outlets.
• Presently Executive Director Climate Money Watchdog

SOCIAL WORK

• Established the Dinner Program for Homeless Women, based in Washington, DC with her husband Thomas Lawson in the early 1980s which has grown into one of the largest food and resource non-profits in Washington and is now known as Thrive (thrivedc.org)

AUTHOR

• Author “The Pentagon Underground: Hidden Patriots Fighting Against Deceit and Fraud in America’s Defense Program.” Times Books, New York, 1985
• Co-author book of the whistleblower’s manual “Courage without Martyrdom: A Survival Guide for Whistleblowers”
• Co-author book with Robert Bauman, “Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War” 2008
• Co-author book with Robert Bauman, “Shattered Minds: How the Pentagon Fails Our Troops with Faulty Helmets.”  2019
• Editor of book “More Bucks, Less Bang: How the Pentagon Buys Ineffective Weapons.” Published by the Fund for a Constitutional Government and Bookpeople. Washington, D.C., 1983
• Columnist and managing editor for Truthout.org and managing editor for Tarbell.org. Her column for Truthout was called Solutions: Making government work.
• Author, Pentagon Solutions: How to Actually Get Control of Defense Spending, A compilation of her Truthout.org Solutions columns. 2012

PERSONAL

• Fondest activities – Going to California beaches with her husband and dogs, kayaking, singing tenor in classical choirs, snorkeling in Maui, international travel, crocheting blankets for new babies and ill adults.
• My two sons are my best accomplishments. Daniel Lawson is an art director in TV and film and a member of the art directors’ guild. Nicholas Lawson is Founder and CEO of a sport sponsor company called Sqwad.