From the Dean
Engineering the Future of Health
Whether designing and prototyping novel medical devices, mining massive amounts of data and electronic records for information, developing precision diagnostic technologies, or discovering new biologics, engineering is an intrinsic part of healthcare in ways both seen and unseen. Creating a future healthcare system that is innovative, sustainable and equitable will not happen without engineers, and Penn Engineering, in partnership with Penn Medicine, is uniquely positioned to be a leader in addressing this challenge.
In addition to leading-edge projects in engineering and human health already underway in the School, Penn recently made a $100 million investment in our School’s new Center for Precision Engineering for Health ( CPE4H ), which will enable Penn Engineers and their collaborators to conduct interdisciplinary, fundamental and translational research in the synthesis of novel biomolecules and new polymers to sense, understand and direct biological function, and to design new therapeutics.
Penn Engineers have the advantage of being immersed in an exciting, interdisciplinary culture on a campus where collaborations across schools are the norm rather than an exception. The Penn ecosystem includes a rapidly growing startup culture with a very efficient lab-to-market pipeline.
In this newly redesigned issue of Penn Engineering, you will get a chance to explore a sampling of the exciting projects that Penn Engineers are conducting in our efforts to address the global challenge of healthcare.
In addition, I hope that this new format gives our readers the opportunity to learn about even more of the exciting advances that Penn Engineers are making, the questions we are trying to answer, the startups that have made their way from idea to reality, the contributions of our postdoctoral fellows, the innovative mindset of our students, and the incredible spaces and resources available to us here at Penn.
As you take in this issue, you can now experience what I do when I walk through the Penn Engineering complex: being awed and humbled by the breadth of intellect, innovation and imagination across all of our departments and centers as we work together to engineer the future.
Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean