History

Tom Sheperak is the inventor behind Plasma Directed Electron Beam™ technology. He attended Pottstown High School in Pottstown, PA in the 1950’s, in the midst of the space race when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. This drove a frenzy in the United States to amass scientific knowledge, and the young student was among those to answer the call.  Tom attended Saturday morning Physics and Chemistry classes and eventually won a competition awarding him scholarship to University of Toledo. There he initially studied engineering, but found his interests piqued by a different discipline, and eventually received a law degree.

He went on to have a storied career practicing law, even serving as a Judge Advocate in the US Army during Vietnam war. Though he had committed himself to the law as a profession, his passion for science and engineering never left him. Living in Toledo, OH in the 1970’s, he was inspired by the oil embargo and energy crisis to look for alternative ways to stimulate molecules that would result in heat. Tom took it upon himself to become familiar with the literature and engage with scientists serving as experts in the fields of plasma-related research.

Over the next two decades, he continued accruing knowledge in his free time until someone in the early 2000’s suggested he do something with the technology. Driven by a vision for an alternate energy source that would benefit humankind, Tom got to work. He used principles learned from the space program and found ways to use electrons to raise the surface energy on plastic materials. Thus was born the first devices that generated a Plasma Directed Electron Beam™.

Gary Baron has been investing in startups for close to 20 years, always on the lookout for opportunities that could have a massive positive impact on people’s lives and well-being. He was a lead investor in a similar technology within Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) startup portfolio, allowing him to gain access to a valuable network of related talent. Knowing that Gary had the resources and motivation to advance technology, an individual from this network introduced Gary to Tom Sheperak and his fledgling Plasma Directed Electron Beam™ technology.

Gary recognized the technology as an enabling platform from which dozens of impactful health and wellness related applications could be derived. These are potentially life-saving and life-changing applications.  Partnering with leaders and institutions in research and applied therapies, he created Plasma Futures LLC as a vehicle to deploy PDEB™ devices and expand the platform.