Robert M. Nerem
Director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience
Contact Information
Building: Petit IBB
Office:
1106
Phone: 404.894.2768
Fax: 404.894.2291
email
Mailing Address
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Chemical &
Biomolecular Engineering
311 Ferst Drive, N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30332-0100
Links
Robert M. Nerem
Education
B.S. 1959, University of Oklahoma
M.Sc. 1961, Ohio State University
Ph.D. 1964, Ohio State University
Research Interests
Dr. Nerem has been active in bioengineering for more than 25 years. His initial interest was motivated by the possible role of fluid dynamics in atherosclerosis, and he has conducted fundamental research on problems in cardiovascular fluid dynamics. In 1981 he established a cell culture laboratory and began to study the influence of physical forces on anchorage-dependent mammalian cells, with much of this work focusing on the cells which make up a blood vessel. This work led to his interest in tissue engineering, and he now is director of the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues, an Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation. He also is director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, a research institute whose mission is to integrate engineering, information technology, and the life sciences in the conduct of biomedical research.
In recognition of his work, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988 and to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1992. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998. Dr. Nerem is past president of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering and past president of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine. He was also the founding president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He currently serves on the Science Board of the Food and Drug Administration.