2018 marks 25th Anniversary at Poly-Med

In 2018, Poly-Med will celebrate its 25th anniversary. My father, our founder, Dr. Shalaby Shalaby is considered one of the forefathers in the bioresorbable polymer industry. In the late 1970’s he led an exploratory group on polymers for biomedical applications at a large medical device company. During that time, he was one the lead inventors for several bioresorbable products including the Vicryl® suture.

In 1990, his love for research and education brought him to Clemson University in South Carolina. In the summer of 1993, Dr. Shalaby founded the company as a means to continue unfettered research in the bioresorbable polymer industry and to teach and sponsor students. He and a handful of PhD students started working out of a Clemson incubator building. This was a time for a lot of personal and professional growth as everyone was learning new things and pitching in to help where needed. During these early years, the focus was on research and education.

From the very beginning, Dr. Shalaby encouraged his employees to continue education in pursuit of creativity. We continue this emphasis with over 30 graduate thesis earned through a partnership with Clemson University and Poly-Med. Today, Poly-Med’s influence reaches beyond the classroom. We’ve grown to over 85 employees and work with some of the largest medical device companies in the world.

As we evolve as a company, my father’s work is at the heart of what we do. His hundreds of patents allow us to provide creative solutions to medical device companies as they work on novel devices to improve patient lives. Through continual improvement by personal and professional growth, our employees are excited to make an impact on the medtech industry. I’d like to think my father would be proud to see how far we’ve come as a company and that the foundation he built continues to support us 25 years later and beyond.

Dave Shalaby
President, Poly-Med, Inc.