By:Jerry Burke
Medical pioneer Tolkoff, '66 grad, honored at South High School
For 30 years, Valley Stream South High School graduate Joshua Tolkoff has played a vital role in the research, development and manufacturing of medical devices, revolutionizing the field in many ways. When it came time for the school to choose its sixth Distinguished Alumni Award, no one needed to look very hard.
Last week, the school welcomed home one of its own, and Tolkoff reveled in the opportunity to come back to the place that shaped him into the man he is today. When one student asked what was the one thing about South High that helped him the most, he said, "The teamwork and support that my teachers and fellow students provided."
Tolkoff was delighted to see that attitude unchanged in the 35 years since he graduated. "Listen to your teachers," he said. "They are here to help you."
As part of the district's 75th anniversary, the school held an awards ceremony as well as a question-and-answer session with Tolkoff, giving students the opportunity to see what one graduate has done in life to reach his potential.
The May 30 program honored Tolkoff for his accomplishments. Dr. Stephen Lando, South's principal, welcomed students, guests and local officials, including Mayor Ed Cahill and Nassau County Legis. Francis X. Becker. Central High School District Superintendent Ronald D. Valenti introduced the agenda, followed by the introduction of Tolkoff by Lando. Student Council President Joseph Olsen presented the honoree with the award. Cahill and Becker also awarded citations to Tolkoff.
The 53-year-old engineer and entrepreneur then took to the microphone, telling students not only about his life at South, but also of where that experience took him.
He grew up in the Mill Brook - then called Green Acres - section of Valley Stream on Fieldstone Lane. He attended District 30's Forest Road Elementary and then South for grades seven through twelve. Tolkoff served as Student Council president his senior year, was an All-League tackle on the football team and a league champion in shot put and discus. At his graduation in 1966, he received the coveted Mayor Henry Waldinger Award for being an outstanding scholar, athlete and citizen.
Of all his accomplishments and activities, Tolkoff admitted one of his favorites was a little off-kilter. "I remember being on the rifle team with Mr. Foster. Problem was, we didn't have a range to shoot in. So, unbeknownst to certain parties, we built one in the basement [of South High]," said Tolkoff, who believes that event changed his perspective in life. "I learned that if you don't have something you need, you have to build it yourself."
Tolkoff went on to recount other memories of South High, some happy and some sad. "I remember during my senior year I had decided to take calculus, which was a challenge for me," he said. "I had to spend every spare moment studying. Once, I was in the cafeteria reading my calculus book before an athletic match and one of the coaches picked up the book. Wanting me to focus on the game, he said, 'Tolkoff, get serious!' Since then, every time I find my mind wandering, I think of that voice saying that phrase and I come right back down to earth."
Not every memory at South was pleasant. "Every generation has that 'where were you when...' moment. Mine was hearing from one of my coaches, Joe Callahan, that John Kennedy had been shot. I remember that moment very clearly and how upset I was."
After graduating, Tolkoff thought about going to either medical or engineering school. Since he couldn't make up his mind, he decided to get into both areas. "I wanted to research medical problems from an engineering standpoint," he said. So he did, and Tolkoff, as well as the many patients whose lives have been changed by his work, has no regrets.
Tolkoff's scholastic resume speaks for itself: he graduated cum laude with an A.B. from Harvard University in engineering and applied physics in 1970 and received an M.S. in biomechanics from M.I.T. in 1971.
What followed gave him an appreciation for the work his teachers did. "My first job out of college was at the Woodmere Academy, where I taught mathematics." Tolkoff described how at the time engineering jobs were hard to come by. "In 1971, the high demand for engineers was still a few years away. So I took what for me turned out to be one of the most difficult jobs I have ever had."
After a year of teaching, Tolkoff began his career in the medical field at Massachusetts General Hospital as a research engineer, an "in-the-trenches" experience which didn't always agree with him. "I would walk around the hospital and see all the patients and ask myself, 'Do I have that?' I became quite a hypochondriac, which doesn't help when you work in a hospital environment."
Tolkoff went on to describe how he felt the first time he received a patent on his work. "You go in thinking, 'Somebody must have thought of this before.' But in actuality, there are so many things out there to be done. You just have to look for it."
From there, Tolkoff went on to head R&D for Boston Scientific as it grew from 20 to over 400 employees. He was promoted to vice-president of Medi-Tech, Inc., a division of Boston Scientific, a leader in minimally invasive therapeutic medical devices.
He also founded three companies: Harbor Medical Devices in 1986, ACT Medical in 1990, and Seedling Enterprises, which works with medical inventors to help move their ideas into production, in 1999. In all that time, Tolkoff was granted patents on over 20 medical devices, including a improved balloon angioplasty device. When one student asked him what he felt was his proudest accomplishment in the field, he told the story of an off-shoot of the balloon technology.
"Doctors had asked me to build a larger balloon for infants with heart valve problems. The normal balloons clear adult arteries of build-up. A larger one could help repair a valve that was not opening correctly. So, despite the marketers telling me that such a device had almost no real monetary value because of the limited number of patients involved, I went ahead with it anyway. I felt good."
For a man whose work has helped save thousands of lives, Tolkoff was very approachable and open to the students. He began his speech by conveying his single apprehension to the day at the school. "I get nervous being called 'mister.' Whenever I was called 'mister' in these halls, I was usually in trouble."
A brief awkward silence occurred when Tolkoff gave credit to former late-night talk show host Johnny Carson for promoting the benefits of angioplasty to the public. When he asked, "You all know who Johnny Carson is, right?" a good majority of the students, who were on average eight or nine when Carson retired, shook their heads. "Oh, well," laughed Tolkoff, "The point is I was at the right place at the right time for this technology to have an effect." He also made a point to give his thoughts on the difference between his generation and today's students. "You are more outspoken now, which is good. But please don't think that our generation was like "The Brady Bunch," because it wasn't." The students enjoyed the observation.
Tolkoff admitted that he was not always sure what he wanted to do in life, but he did give the students some words of advice in his closing. "No matter what you do in life, be passionate about it," he said. "Not everything you do in life is going to be a success. You'll end up learning more from your mistakes than from your successes." Good advice from one who has been where they are now.
