Speakers

Dr. Rashid Bashir earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1989 and a PhD in 1992. He is Dean of Engineering, the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Previously, Bashir was the Executive Associate Dean at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine (2017 – present), the Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering, Head of Department of Bioengineering (2013 – 2017), and Director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (2007 – 2013). Bashir was a faculty member at Purdue University from 1998 to 2007, with appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Bioengineering. From 1992 to 1998 he worked for National Semiconductor Corporation as Sr. Engineering Manager. Bashir has received the NSF Faculty Early Career Award, the 2012 IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award, and the Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship Award from BMES in 2018. He is a fellow of IEEE, AIMBE, AAAS, BMES, IAMBE, RSC, APS, and NAI. Bashir’s research group is interested in developing new technologies for precision and personalized medicine, and 3D bio-fabrication of cellular systems. Using bionanotechnology, BioMEMS, and lab on a chip, he is working at the interface of biology and engineering from the molecular to the tissue scale, and aiming to make an impact on grand challenges in health and medicine including cancer, sepsis, and others.

Professor Bilek is an ARC Laureate Fellow. She is Professor of Applied Physics and Surface Engineering at the University of Sydney and heads the Applied Physics and Surface Engineering Research Group within the School of Physics and the School of Biomedical Engineering. She also serves as associate editor for the Journal of Applied Physics. She is internationally recognised for her work on environmentally-friendly plasma-based processes that create new materials and surface modifications. Professor Marcela Bilek holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, a BSc from the University of Sydney and an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA. Prior appointments include visiting Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, USA, visiting Professor at the Technische Universitat Hamburg-Harburg in Germany and Research Fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, UK.

Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, Ph.D. is a Full Professor at Tel Aviv University, where she is head of the Cancer Research & Nanomedicine Laboratory, Director of the TAU Kahn 3D BioPrinting Initiative, Director of Cancer Biology Research Center and holds the Kurt and Herman Lion Chair in Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies. She served as Chair of the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, as President of the Israeli Controlled Release Society (CRS), and Chair of IACUC. She received her B.Pharm. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1995 and her Ph.D. (Summa Cum Laude) in Polymer Chemistry and Cancer Nanomedicine from the University of London in 1999 with Prof. Ruth Duncan. She then spent four years as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital Boston working with Prof. Judah Folkman on Vascular and Cancer Biology. In 2003, she was appointed Instructor in Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She joined Tel Aviv University in 2006. She serves on the Board of Directors of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University, Member of 8400- The Health network, member of Scientific Advisory Boards of the Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery, Israel Cancer Association, Hospital Universitari VHIR, University of Lisbon, Rothschild and Fulbright Fellowships Committees, VCs, biotech companies and editorial boards of scientific journals.

Mark Schoenfisch is the Peter A. Ornstein Distinguished Professor, jointly appointed in the Department of Chemistry (College of Arts & Sciences) and Division of Pharmacoengineering & Molecular Pharmaceutics (UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Schoenfisch received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Germanic Languages and Literature (BA, 1992) at the University of Kansas prior to attending the University of Arizona for graduate studies in Chemistry (PhD, 1997). His dissertation research involved the characterization and application of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers at electrode interfaces. Before starting at UNC-Chapel Hill, he spent two years as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan (1998-1999). His research interests include analytical sensors, biomaterials, and the development of macromolecular nitric oxide release scaffolds as new therapeutics. Technology/intellectual property originating from the Schoenfisch group is being commercialized by three companies located in the Research Triangle Park area: Novan, Inc.; Vast Therapeutics. Inc.; Diabetic Health, Inc.