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Bioengineering Professor Buddy D. Ratner will be the first holder of the Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization. The Chair was endowed “to attract and retain a distinguished faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering who has excelled in technology development and commercialization.”
Ratner was selected in recognition of his pioneering research and international leadership in biomaterials and outstanding mentoring programs. His contributions to understanding how biological molecules interact with surfaces of medical implants led to his 2002 election to the National Academy of Engineering. In 1996 he established an NSF Engineering Research Center, UW Engineered Biomaterials, to develop materials that improve the body’s acceptance of implants and to provide cross-disciplinary outreach. Ratner has seven patents, with six more under review. He founded two companies, Healionics and Asemblon. He is also Principal Investigator on an NIH Bioengineering Research Partnership grant for heart muscle tissue engineering.
With a PhD in polymer chemistry from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (1972), Ratner held a postdoctoral position at the University of Washington and then joined the Center for Bioengineering faculty in 1984. Honors include the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature (1988)
and the Society for Biomaterials’ Founders Award (2004).
As Darland Chair, Ratner will be a lead instructor in the first course of the Program on Technology Commercialization, which uses successful entrepreneurs to teach science and engineering students how to bring their innovations into the marketplace and succeed within existing companies.
“A committed advocate must shepherd a smart idea through the commercialization stage before it can help people,” said Ratner. “This generous endowed chair will help me train students for a new engineering environment.”
See an article in the Bioengineering News