Medical Device Manufacturer Selected to Participate in GrowFL the State’s Economic Gardening Program

STUART, Fla., --- Keller Medical Inc., a two-year-old Stuart company that manufactures and sells a funnel-shaped surgical device used in silicone breast augmentation, has been invited to participate in GrowFL, a state-funded program that provides free technical assistance to small Florida businesses.

Part of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute, GrowFL was created in 2009 by the Florida Legislature and is based at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, according to Dr. Tom O’Neal, executive director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute.

Dr. O’Neal, who also is associate vice president for the University of Central Florida’s Office of Research and Commercialization, said the institute selects companies for the program based on their growth potential.

“Keller Medical is an ideal candidate as it has shown that it has potential to continuing growing and because of the faith surgeons have in the company’s products,” he said, referring to a recent survey of 200 surgeons that showed 98 percent of them had or would recommend the Keller Funnel to a peer.

Co-founded by Dr. Kevin Keller, a plastic surgeon who invented the Keller Funnel to help plastic surgeons improve the delivery of silicone breast implants, and Howard Preissman, a biomedical engineer who serves as chief executive officer for the company, Keller Medical currently has 10 employees.

“While Keller Medical is beyond the start-up phase, we are still small and looking for every advantage to help us succeed,” Preissman said. “We are thrilled to be recognized as a GrowFL company and we look forward to cultivating the relationship to further develop our company and open avenues to increase our business that previously we had not considered.”

About Keller Medical:
The Keller Funnel was introduced in 2009 as a device that would help plastic surgeons improve the delivery of silicone breast implants. Today nearly 300,000 breast implants are performed annually in the United States. More than half of those procedures use silicone implants and 20 percent of all silicone breast augmentation procedures are completed using the Keller Funnel. For more information about the device or the company, visit www.kellerfunnel.com.

About the Florida Economic Gardening Institute:
The Florida Economic Gardening Institute was created by the 2009 Florida Legislature as the Economic Gardening Technical Assistance Program to stimulate investment in Florida’s economy by providing technical assistance for expanding businesses in the state. Qualified companies must be engaged in the following sectors to receive no-cost technical assistance: Manufacturing; Finance & Insurance Services; Wholesale Trade; Information Industries; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Management Services; and, Administrative & Support Services. Additional information is available at www.GrowFL.com.