For more than 40 years, MEDRAD has been committed to improving patient outcomes by developing innovative, cost-efficient products.

MEDRAD was founded in 1964, when "Doc" M. Stephen Heilman, M.D. created the first flow-controlled, angiographic power injector in the kitchen of his home near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

An emergency room physician by day, “Doc” saw tremendous potential in angiography, a revolutionary X-ray technology that made it possible to visualize blood vessels inside the body. Power injecting a contrast agent into the vessels, he reasoned, would enhance the image and make it possible to diagnose the heart disease and stroke patients who regularly came through the emergency room.

Doc's invention was the first in a long list of MEDRAD innovations. MEDRAD later introduced injector technology for computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and has become the leading provider of ancillary devices for the MR suite.

In 1992, with $65 million in revenues, MEDRAD became a publicly-traded company. Three years later, MEDRAD was acquired by Schering AG and became a private subsidiary. MEDRAD became a business of Bayer HealthCare in 2006, when Bayer acquired Schering AG.

MEDRAD expanded its commitment to improving the quality of healthcare in 2008, when it acquired Possis Medical, Inc., a leading provider of mechanical thrombectomy devices used to treat narrowed or blocked arteries and veins. The combination of MEDRAD and Possis Medical joins two leaders in their respective fields, and underscores MEDRAD’s dedication to the treatment of patients in the growing cardiovascular intervention field.