Dr. Brock Michael Walker is a distinguished figure in the fields of healthcare, biomedical research, and academic leadership. He is best known for the invention of MEARS (Medically Engineered Active Response Systems) Technology, his expertise in Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery, and contributions in NASA's different programmes. He is named on more than 80 International patents and publications.

Brock Walker was born in Gaylord, Michigan, on November 17, 1951. His parents were Jerrold Walker and Yvonne Walker. Walker grew up in Alba, Michigan, on a crop farm owned by his grandparents and parents. Alba is a small farming town of less than 300 people in the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula.

His father and mother loved to ski, and the whole Walker family learned to ski when they were young. Walker himself learned to ski when he was 5. He was on six different junior national teams, and in 1971 he won the US Junior National Ski Championship.

Walker had a successful skiing career that included training for the Olympics in the United States and racing on FIS national and international tours. He finished his journey as a racer by being the youngest person to ever race on the International Pro Ski Racing Tour.

Walker worked on his parents' farm as a child. He became interested in health care, human performance, and finding ways to make people's lives better through foreign travel, competition, and business. Because of this, they were able to build good connections with hundreds of businesses, the government, and both private and public organizations.

Walker got his bachelor's degree in Vermont and then went to Iowa to get his masters degree. Walker started the Walker Clinic P.C. after getting his PhD. By 1990, it was one of the biggest back pain offices in the country. Walker was joined by a group of other doctors and was in charge of several hundred cases every week. Walker also gave advice to insurance companies, the Michigan State Legislature, and the Judiciary Court Systems. He was an expert witness in court cases and gave lectures for a number of auto companies.

In the 1980s and 1990s, complaints about muscles and bones became more common. As a result, Walker began to focus less on treating patients in the clinic and more on creating products and ideas that would help stop many of these problems. Walker sold his practice in 1990 and started new businesses that focus on fixing problems with how people interact with each other that lead to musculoskeletal disorders.   

Walker has planned, prototyped, and given advice on seating and user interface settings for big companies, police, the US Department of Defense, the US Navy, NASA's Space Program, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and NASCAR. Walker's new idea helped improve driver safety and success in International Motorsports. He made a one-of-a-kind medically designed design for an Indy 500 driver who won the race even though his back and pelvis were broken.

Invention

Walker has created his own Surgical Performance Innovations to make surgical tools and doctors better at Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery. He has worked with and reviewed surgery Robotic Systems to make surgery interface designs better. He was also on the Logitech 2018 Cognitive Performance Panel. 

Walker came up with the idea for MEARS Technology.  MEARS stands for "Medically Engineered Active Response Systems." It is an Assembled Seating Platform (AP) that is operated by the user and is medically intended to turn the user's perception of support, fit, and comfort into a numerical formula known as a "Comfort Profile." The private software system gathers information about users that is linked to biomechanics, anthropometrics, human factors, and functional human dynamics.

Government Collaboration and NASA's Mission

Walker has worked with a number of business and public organizations. He has a special partnership with Herman Miller Inc. that lets them use his inventions, new ideas, and technology to help their cutting edge research and development teams. Him and his team came up with PostureFitTM and Zonal Support and Distribution Technologies, which are used in Herman Miller High-Performance Task Chairs. He worked with Geiger International and won the prestigious International Red Dot Design Award.  

Among his duties at NASA, he was an advisor for the International Space Station X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) Program, Seat Technology, Future Crew Exploration Vehicles, Astronaut Protection and Safety, and the Universities Space Research Association's (USRA) Division of Space Life Sciences (DSLS). He was also an industry advisor for the Mission to Mars Constellation Project.

Walker worked with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's medical director to make drivers safer by coming up with a number of better cockpit and seating options.  His new ideas quickly spread to NASCAR and other well-known races around the world, such as the 12 hours of Sebring, the 24 hours of Daytona, and the 24 hours of LeMans. Walker also owned and helped start the Indianapolis Race Car Number 98.   

Walker gave advice, designed, and built the seats and cabin for "The Miss Budweiser," a hydroplane boat that won multiple world titles. He was an advisor for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) Program on the International Space Station. He helped with seat technology and the creation of Future Crew Exploration Vehicles to protect and keep astronauts safe. NASA/Johnson Space Center put him in charge of the Division of Space Life Sciences (DSLS) of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). He was also a consultant for the Mission to Mars Constellation Project in the business world.

Walker talked with the Director of Aviation and Occupational Safety at the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy about making technology that would make deploying forces safer and better prepared for their missions. He talked about a plan that was meant to keep pilots from getting too tired and make crashes less damaging. He also helped the Director of Naval Safety and Survivability by giving advice.

Walker has been recognised with notable awards like North America's Gold-Best of NeoCon Award and International Red Dot Award for his exceptional work.

Personal
Brock Walker has been married to Deborah for 48 years and raised one son named Ryan. Walker's son drove a Formula 3 vehicle in Europe and a race car in North America. Deborah is an artist. They all live in Okemos, Michigan, with Kylie and Henry, their two Jack Russells.