Presidents’ Distinguished Lecture Series in Engineering, Science, and Medicine
“Bioengineering: From Medical Devices to
Stem Cell Technology”
Dr. Robert M. Nerem, NAE, IOM
Institute Professor
Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair Emeritus
Georgia Tech
Abstract:
In the 1950s, the medical device industry began to develop. This was a time when engineers at
universities in the traditional fields were applying their expertise to problems in medicine. With the advent of
the biological revolution, however, what has emerged is an engineering discipline based on the science of
biology, what is called bioengineering. As this new discipline has evolved, the medical device industry has
expanded and continues to be important; however, a focus today also is at the cell and molecular level and the
application areas of regenerative medicine and stem cell technology. For all of these areas it is the
bioengineers that will create the reality of the 21st century biotechnology age.
Bio:
Dr. Nerem joined Georgia Tech in 1987 as the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in
Medicine. He is an Institute Professor Emeritus, and he serves as the Associate Director of an NSF Science
and Technology Center for the Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) where MIT is the lead
institution. He was the founding Director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. This
research institute was established in 1995 to bring biochemistry, bioengineering, and biology faculty together so
as to create a “convergent,” interdisciplinary culture. Dr. Nerem received his Ph.D. in 1964 from Ohio State
University and is the author of more than 200 publications. He is a Fellow and was the founding President (19921994) of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). In 2002, he received the Pierre
Galletti Award from AIMBE. He was a part-time Senior Advisor for Bioengineering in the National Institute for
Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health (2003-2006). He is past President
of the Tissue Engineering Society International (2002-2004), the forerunner of the Tissue Engineering and
Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), and in 2013 received the Lifetime Achievement Award
from TERMIS-Americas. In 2014, he received the Engineering Conference International Award for Scale-Up and
Manufacturing of Cell-Based Therapies. In 1988, Professor Nerem was elected to the National Academy of
Engineering (NAE), and he served on the NAE Council for six years (1998 - 2004). In 1992, he was elected to
the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and in 1998 a Fellow of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences. In 1994, he was elected a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and in
1998 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the United Kingdom. In
2004, he was elected an honorary foreign member of the Japan Society for Medical and Biological Engineering,
and in 2006 a Foreign Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. In 2008, he was
selected by NAE for the Founders Award. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Paris, Imperial
College London, and Illinois Institute of Technology.
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Seminar type: Presidents’ Distinguished Lecture Series
Where: Livermore 101, When: 11-10-2014, 2:00 PM