Chair Holder, Endowed Chair in Medical Laser Technology
Dr. Kenton Gregory came to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center from Harvard University Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Wellman Laboratories to start the Oregon Medical Laser Center (OMLC) in 1991. A cardiologist and engineer with specialties in photobiology and laser biophysics, he is one of very few people in the world with both the engineering expertise to develop innovative laser treatment devices and the medical knowledge to apply these devices in treating patients.
Dr. Gregory holds a degree in medicine from the University of Southern California. In addition to directing the work of the OMLC, he is a staff cardiologist at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, an assistant professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, and an associate professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering at the Oregon Graduate Institute, part of Oregon Health & Science University.
Dr. Gregory's work has attracted other international experts to the Laser Center team, and under his leadership, the OMLC has become one of the three largest medical laser research facilities in the United States.
- Dr. Gregory is the first person in medical history to treat heart attacks with lasers, using a laser system that he invented.
- He invented the first laser system to be used to treat strokes.
- He developed a hemorrhage control dressing to stop severe bleeding in minutes.
- He has established research programs to find new ways to diagnose and treat cancer, to treat atherosclerosis, to fuse tissues with lasers rather than sutures, and to use biomaterials to replace arteries, ureters and other tissues.
- Dr. Gregory's work has attracted more than $25 million in grants.
- Dr. Gregory has 19 United States and three foreign patents issued and numerous others pending.
"I want to make a significant contribution to science and medicine, and Providence Health & Services is the most fertile place for me to perform this work," says Dr. Gregory. "I hope that we can bring the most sophisticated level of care to patients in Oregon and create one of the greatest biomedical engineering research facilities in the world here."