SFB 2014 Award Recipients
These Society professionals are recognized for their outstanding achievements in and contributions to the biomaterials field. Each award recipient will be honored during the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Annual Meeting and Exposition, April 16-19 in Denver, Colorado.
Founders Award
Rena Bizios, PhD – University Of Texas at San Antonio
C. William Hall Award
Robert Hastings, MS, PE – Depuy Orthopaedics
Society For Biomaterials Award For Service
Anne Meyer, PhD – University at Buffalo
Technology, Innovation & Development Award
Kishore Udipi, PhD and the Medtronic Resolute Integrity Team – Biopolymer Designs, Inc
Young Investigator Award
Brendan Harley, ScD – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Clemson Award for Basic Research
Elazer Edelman, PhD – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Clemson Award for Applied Research
Ravi Bellamkonda, PhD – Georgia Tech/Emory
Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature
Rui Reis, PhD – University of Minho
Student Award for Outstanding Research
Adam Young – PhD Candidate, University of California San Diego
Student Award for Outstanding Research
Stephanie Tzouanas – Undergraduate, Rice University
C. William Hall Scholarship Award
Gillie Agmon, University of California in San Diego
Detailed information on awards and recipients:
Rena Bizios, PhD of the University of Texas at San Antonio, is the recipient of the 2014 Founders Award for her long-term landmark contributions to the discipline of biomaterials. Professor Bizios’s research activities have established her as a pioneer and leader in cellular engineering and cell-biomaterial interactions, including nanostructured materials.
“Professor Bizios has been an early and relentless advocate for applying knowledge from the biological sciences to the discipline of biomaterials,” remarked nominator David Puleo, PhD.
Professor Bizios has tirelessly served the Society For Biomaterials and the field of biomaterials for more than four decades. She devoted her time and seemingly endless energy to activities spanning meetings that established bioengineering and biomaterials within the NIH to recently helping to launch a student chapter of the Society at UTSA.
Robert Hastings, MS, PE of Depuy Orthopaedics, was nominated by Alan S. Litsky, MD, ScD for the C. William Hall Award for his significant contributions to the Society For Biomaterials and outstanding record in establishing, developing, maintaining and promoting the objectives and goals of the Society.
“Bob is committeed strongly to the Society as THE place for study and discussion of orthopedic biomaterials and to assuring that orthopedic medical devices are the best they can be given the science and understanding as we know it,” remarked colleague Jeremy L. Gilbert, PhD.
Professor Hastings has been an active member of the Society for more than 20 years and served in many capacities, including abstract reviewer, session moderator, Membership Committee chair, council member, president’s Long-Range Planning Committee member, and Orthopaedic Special Interest Group chair.
Anne Meyer, PhD of The School of Dental Medicine at The University of Buffalo, is the recipient of the Society For Biomaterials Award for Service for her significant service to the Society by establishing, developing, maintaining and promoting its objectives and goals.
“I am particularly impressed in Anne’s leadership roles within our organization, as well as her serving as an important role model for women in our Society,” commented nominator Nicholas P. Ziats, PhD.
Dr. Meyer has published a signifant number of publications in biomaterials research, particularly in the area of biofouling, with many prominent members of the Society over the past 30 years.
Kishore Udipi, PhD and the Medtronic Resolute Integrity Team, is awarded the 2014 Society For Biomaterials Technology Innovation and Development Award. The award recognizes an individual or team who provided key scientific and technical innovation and leadership in a novel product in which biomaterials played an important and enabling role.
“The Resolute Integrity DES, based on the BioLinx™ polymer system, is well received by clinicians globally and is a great polymer innovation story,” remarked nominator Josiah N. Wilcox, PhD.
The Medtronic Team has creatively developed a biocompatible drug eluting polymer blend, BioLinx™, which is used today in the Medtronic Resolute Integrity™ drug eluting stent. It is the only drug eluting stent approved by the FDA for a diabetic indication.
Clemson Awards
Each year, the Society For Biomaterials solicits nominations for outstanding work in the Clemson Award categories. The history of these awards reflects the strong traditional ties between the Society For Biomatierals and Clemson University since 1974.
Ravi Bellamkonda, PhD of the Georgia Institute of Technology, receives the 2014 Clemson Award for Applied Research for his significant utilization and application of basic knowledge in science to accomplish a significant goal in the biomaterials field.
Nominator Arthur J. Coury, PhD had this to say about his colleague, “To know Professor Ravi Bellamkonda is to appreciate a gentleman respectful of the personalities, potential and contributions of all, yet personally intense in his focus on benefiting society at large.”
Dr. Bellamkonda is a thought leader and seminal contributor to the literature and the basic knowledge of interaction of polymeric materials and the nervous system. As a teacher, he recently received the ‘best professor’ award from undergraduate students in biomaterials education at GIT – an honor that has only been conferred upon four professors in the last twelve years.
Elazer Edelman, PhD of the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center, is honored with the Clemson Award for Basic Research for his contributions to basic knowledge and understanding of the interaction of materials with tissue.
“Elazer is the rare chimera of engineering and medicine, science and biology,” commented nominator Robert S. Langer, ScD. “He is the model of how engineering principles, techniques and practices cane be made to change medicine, drive healthcare innovation and lead to the life-saving and life-enhancing solutions.”
Dr. Edelman is a prolific research scientist, having written 240 articles, 32 patents and 240 abstracts and conference proceedings. His work has founded nine start-up companies and developed many healthcare products.
Rui Reis, PhD of the University of Minho, is the recipient of the 2014 Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature for his significant contributions to the literature on the science and technology of biomaterials.
“Rui enjoys challenging the institutional conventional wisdoms,” said nominator Buddy D. Ratner, PhD. “In doing so, he is cognizant of the risks and follows his own vision -- he believes that the values of competence, hard work, talent and strategy should be valued equally to the ‘well-trodden’ paths to success.”
Over the years Professor Reis has made outstanding contributions to the biomaterials field in the development and engineering of natural-based biomaterials, and in proposing several new strategies in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Brendan Harley, ScD of the University of Illinois, is the recipient of the 2014 Society For Biomaterials Young Investigator Award for his achievements in the field of biomaterials research. Candidates for the SFB Young Investigator Award must be within 10 years of receipt of their terminal degree (PhD or equivalent) and, if they work in an academic institution, must not be tenured at the time of nomination.
“Brendan has not yet peaked as an independent investigator,” remarked nominator William L. Murphy, PhD. ”His already impressive productivity is just the tip of a large iceberg.”
Dr. Harley’s more recent studies exert a higher level of biochemical control over new tissue formation via innovative spatial patterning schemes. His initial studies have led to significant insights into the balance between hematopoietic stem cell quiescence versus self-renewal and lineage specification.
Student Awards For Outstanding Research
Student researchers who have shown outstanding achievement in biomaterials research may submit applications and a manuscript reporting their research. The manuscript must be in the style of Journal of Biomedical Materials Research and must be submitted in one of the following categories:
- Undergraduate student
- Masters or Health Science degree
- Ph.D. degree candidate or equivalent
The 2014 Student Awards for Outstanding Research recipients are:
Adam Young, PhD candidate at the University of California, San Diego. In addition to his lab work, Adam is passionate about getting involved and having an impact on others, including increasing diversity in science and engineering. He is very involved in the UCSD BioBridge program, which works to encourage young students to go into STEM fields. He has worked in classrooms across San Diego as a mentor and given talks in summer conferences to aspiring young scientists. Adam has also received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellowship as well as an additional fellowship from NSF as part of the Engineering Innovations Fellows Program, which is allowing him to do a paid internship this summer at Cytograft, Inc.
“Adam is an extremely bright and motivated student who was developing his own ideas and planning his own studies even in his first year in graduate school, which is rare,” commented nominator Karen L. Christman, PhD. “Adam is an outstanding graduate student both in and outside of the lab and will undoubtedly be a leading engineer in the field.”
Stephanie Tzouanas, Senior bioengineering major at Rice University. Stephanie’s accomplishments include proficiency in the analysis of nano-scale samples derived from a novel drug delivery system consisting of genetic material (siRNA) and a polymer carrier, investigations towards the synthesis and characterization of thermally and chemically gelling hydrogels for bone tissue engineering applications, and most recently investigations towards the development of novel injectable stem cell-based therapies leveraging thermally and chemically gelling hydrogels with enormous implications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
“Stephanie is the most talented, dynamic, and innovative undergraduate student I have worked with in my twenty-one years at Rice,” commented nominator Antonios Mikos, PhD. “She has exceptional intellectual promise, drive, self-discipline, and an insatiable appetite for new knowledge.”