Steve Griffin Helps Make Surgery Safer
"CLAS NEWS" Spring/Summer 2004

In the world of surgery, there’s a revolution under way that equates to less pain, shorter recovery times and reduced expense. Surgical patients can thank CLAS alumnus Steve Griffin, in part, for such advancements. Griffin, who earned his bachelor’s degree in microbiology from ASU in 1984 and later completed the coursework for a chemistry Ph.D., is the founder of InnovaQuartz, a company that makes fused silica capillaries and optical fibers for medical and industrial application. The firm’s glass fibers are used in surgery to deliver laser energy that breaks up kidney stones, cuts away enlarged prostates and vaporizes uterine tumors, among other things. The availability of these flexible fibers eliminates the need for surgeons to cut a patient open.

“We’re working to extend lasers into new surgical applications, since they are typically less traumatic and give better results than conventional ‘open’ surgical methods,” says Griffin. “It’s our mission to continually make these surgical procedures safer and more effective.”
Griffin honed his craft at ASU and credits much of its genesis to a glassblowing class he took for an undergraduate elective. He was hoping to learn how to make basic scientific equipment. He did that, and more.

“I use the principles I learned in that glassblowing class every day, only now I’m blowing glass using lasers rather than a torch,” says Griffin. “I always keep in mind the two words that stand out above all others from that class—minimize stress.”
For Griffin, that lesson applies to the delicate tension involved in blowing glass as well as life in general. It also comes in handy when dealing with professional and business challenges.

Griffin was fired from his first job out of school because of his insistence on using science to solve that company’s product-development problems. So he spent every dime he had to build his own laser system in his father’s 80-square-foot laundry room and then set about perfecting the products he had worked on for his former employer.
Within a short time, Griffin had earned his first patent and was running the system more than 20 hours a day to keep up with customer orders. By year’s end, he had $200,000 in sales.

InnovaQuartz soon moved to larger quarters and has expanded several times since then. Last fall, the company moved into a new 17,500-square-foot facility in north Phoenix. It was designed and built to accommodate the firm’s “oddball” needs, which include space for five 40-foot draw towers and massive utility capacity.
Sales are up 50 percent over last year, and InnovaQuartz was just named one of the state’s biotech “Up and Comers” by a local business magazine.

“Thanks to my background in microbiology and chemistry, I’ve found a unique niche,” says Griffin. “At many educational institutions, these two worlds never meet. But taking courses in a liberal arts environment allows you to study both. We’re just now starting to see how important this interface is.”