John Abele served as Chairman of FIRST from 2002-2010, and currently serves as the Chairman of the Development Committee, and as a member of the Steering Committee.
Abele is the retired Founding Chairman of Boston Scientific Corporation. He holds numerous patents and has published and lectured extensively on the technology of various medical devices and on the technical, social, economic, and political trends and issues affecting healthcare. His major interests are science literacy for children, education, and the process by which new technology is invented, developed, and introduced to society. He developed the Kingbridge Centre and Institute, a conferencing institution whose mission is to research, develop, and teach improved methods for "super productive" collaborative conferencing: problem-solving, conflict resolution, strategic planning, new methods for learning, and generally help groups to become "collectively intelligent."
He is a Fellow in both the Society of Interventional Radiology and the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering and received honorary Doctors of Science from Northeastern University and Wentworth Institute of Technology. Other awards include Gold Medal Awards from the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe, the 2007 Pioneer in Endoscopy Award from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the Distinguished Career Award in 2006 from the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy, the 2003 BMES Distinguished Lecture Award presented by the Biomedical Engineering Society.