With support from The Whitaker Foundation, a major new program in biomedical engineering will be established within Yale's Faculty of Engineering and the School of Medicine by consolidating separate activities in biomedical imaging, molecular bioengineering and traditional biomedical engineering.
"Significant expansion of the undergraduate biomedical engineering curriculum, as well as a cohesive graduate program, will greatly enhance Yale's general strength in science and engineering," says President Richard C. Levin. "Within the School of Medicine, the expansion of biomedical engineering will influence the future careers of physicians trained at Yale and provide many of them with the opportunity to realize the potential applications of engineering within medicine.
"In the past, students studying biomedical engineering have fared well after Yale and have made significant contributions in their field. We believe that their prospects will be enhanced by the formation of a more formal program within the Faculty of Engineering, and that the research opportunities for both engineering and medical students will be increased. I also am confident that the research programs in biomedical engineering at Yale will continue to rank with the best in the field."
D. Allan Bromley, dean of engineering and former national science and technology adviser to President George Bush, says: "Expansion of biomedical engineering is one of two new areas my colleagues and I have designated as critical to the growth and strengthening of engineering at Yale, the other being environmental engineering. Both of these areas will benefit from the collegial collaborations that are so typical of research efforts at Yale.
"The number of leading research universities that have a significant undergraduate curriculum in biomedical engineering is still small. Through the joint efforts of a leading research-oriented Faculty of Engineering and School of Medicine, and a preeminent undergraduate college, Yale can look forward with confidence to developing a program of national prominence within a short time," Dean Bromley noted. "Our efforts will be helped by the extensive synergy between the different parts of our campus that is developing and will be catalyzed by this Special Opportunity Grant from The Whitaker Foundation."
Yale is at the forefront of many research areas in which engineering is applied to medicine, according to John C. Gore, professor of diagnostic radiology, who has a joint appointment in the applied physics department and is the grant's principal investigator. "This grant from The Whitaker Foundation will accelerate the implementation of biomedical engineering at Yale, expand its scope and provide the resources to achieve many of the aims of this major new initiative," he says.
Teaching graduate students engaged in applications of physics and engineering to medicine will be more formally organized, Professor Gore notes. "More importantly," he says, "these students will undertake research in a multidisciplinary environment on important research problems in biomedical engineering."
At present, biomedical engineering at Yale may be grouped into three major areas. The first includes the traditional areas of biomechanics, vascular dynamics, biosystems engineering and biomaterials, as well as research in human physiology and environmental factors conducted at the John B. Pierce Laboratory, a private research laboratory affiliated with Yale. A second area encompasses the development and application of imaging methods, image analysis and signal processing to biomedical problems, including clinical diagnosis. A third area concentrates on biotechnology, biochemical engineering and molecular bioengineering.
The Whitaker Foundation grants made to Yale and seven other educational research institutions each range from $741,939 to $996,906. They are designed to help institutions enhance biomedical engineering by developing permanent, high-quality programs that will benefit education and research in the field.
The Whitaker Foundation, based in Rosslyn, Virginia, is a private, non-profit foundation created in 1975 in the belief that engineering can improve medical care. In addition to the Special Opportunity Awards, the foundation operates six other programs of support for biomedical engineering research and education.