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Charting Broken Hearts pursue their dreams. "Many < >f them o w e their degrees to the help and inspiration they gained from Jim," she says. Gallagher, w h o has been described as a "genial giant of a leprechaun," was noted for his sense of humor, and he loved to tell stories on himself. There was the time w h e n some well-meaning senior executive suggested that all GTR1 males should wear a coat and tie to work. Jim was not fond of ties, so at the next notable gathering of the GTRI leadership, Jim arrived wearing a tie, but it was burned off about midway up. "These things are a hazard w h e n you lean over a laser," he explained. John Cotton, another GTRI colleague, says, "The problem with telling the truth about Jim Gallagher is that it all sounds so exaggerated; n o one person could possibly be at once so strong, so gentle, so inspirational, so authoritative, so kind, so giving, and so damned smart. "His contributions to humankind are documented in the hearts and minds (>f people all over this country and the world; when lie touched your life, he added to it, made it better, richer, fuller." •
Martha Ann Stegar is editor of The GTRI Connector, a newspaper for the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
By J o h n Dunn J A lumnus Sheryl L^L Sanders Prucka and J L j L . her husband have developed a computer system that charts the beat of broken hearts. They unveiled CardioMapp, a system for mapping arrhythmia—alterations in the rhythm of a heartbeat—at the 1989 American Heart Association Conference, and cardiologists stood in line to see it. "We were overwhelmed with the response to the system," says Sheryl, EE '82, MS EE '84, vice president of Prucka Engineering, and responsible for software development. Her husband, Matthew, is president of the firm. CardioMapp is the first and only commercially available 255-channel system. The Pruckas have also developed a 63-channel CardioMapp and a 127channel system. Arrhythmia Research Technology markets the systems, which cost $90,000 to $150,000. While they both had fulltime jobs, the couple began designing the computerized mapping system, working evenings out of their Houston home. "In order to raise money to start the project, w e both needed to keep our regular full-time jobs," Prucka explains. "We w e r e most interested in avoiding having to take venture capital — a n d never have." In April 1988, Prucka
Sheryl Prucka: C o m p u t i n g t h e heartbreak. Engineering was incorporated. Four months later, Charles Morina, a 1974 Georgia Tech electrical engineering graduate, became a partner as vice president for manufacturing. He and Sheryl Prucka had both worked for Schlumberger Well Services in Houston, where h e was the firm's manufacairing engineering manager. "I had a lot of respect for what h e was doing," Prucka says. "He came to us with extensive manufacturing experience focused o n low-volume, highlycustomized capital equipment. He also brought financial and business expertise to the company."
In developing CardioMapp, the firm worked closely with electrophysiologists—cardiologists w h o specialize in the electrical activation of the heart. Since January 1990, more than 30 systems have been sold. T w o of the first orders went to China. Installation in Beijing was more difficult than the Pruckas had anticipated. "The facilities were not adequate, and there was n o source of grounded power," she says. "They did the best they could to make it acceptable. We were able to get clean mapping signals, good data, and make very accurate maps." Three surgeries
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