Welcome to the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory, a bold and visionary partnership between a top-tier public engineering school (Georgia Tech) and a highly respected private medical school (Emory). We are true to our DNA, reflecting the innovation and risk-taking exemplified in our birth, which has created one of the finest biomedical engineering programs in the world. We use the latest engineering technologies, clinical insights and biological approaches to address unmet clinical challenges in pediatric bioengineering, immunoengineering, regenerative medicine, cardiovascular and neural engineering, imaging, and biomedical computing.
As the interim department chair, my role is temporary until a permanent chair is appointed. That said, I will continue to push the boundaries of what the Department can achieve as we invent the future of healthcare. The Coulter Department is in excellent shape, and I am committed to the success and positive growth that ongoing and new programs will deliver.
For example, we recently led the launch of the Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing which will develop processes and techniques for ensuring the consistent, low-cost, large-scale manufacture of high-quality living cells used in cell-based therapies. Expected to be the first of its kind in the United States, the center will include a validation facility for good manufacturing practices in cell production.
Every day, our core science and engineering talent are devoted to addressing today’s biggest health challenges such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, blindness, arthritis, AIDS, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, and immune disorders. Our wide-ranging team of multi-disciplinary, world-class researchers are enabled by Georgia Tech’s and Emory’s leading-edge infrastructure and our special collaborative environment. Through 2017, we expect to add even more talented faculty to the Department.
In addition to research activities, we have a major teaching role: Some of the brightest undergraduate and graduate students from across the state, the country, and the world enroll in our highly-ranked biomedical engineering programs at Georgia Tech and Emory. Our faculty spur the curiosity of our brilliant students who are the future leaders within our society. These students interact with some of the world’s pre-eminent scholars and scientists learning to solve complex, real-world problems. After completing our programs, Georgia Tech/Emory students are routinely placed in highly sought-after medical, graduate and industry positions all over the world.
Further, our students are blending scholarship, innovation and entrepreneurship to shape their own futures by launching their own startup companies under pioneering “create your own job” initiatives, such as CREATE-X. And they are working closely with faculty and clinicians to not only gain fundamental insights into human health and pathology, but also to translate our research to impact industry and medicine.
With fairly recent breakthroughs in gene editing and immunology, more demand for virus vaccines, a focus on pediatric care, advanced research in neurology, and other cutting-edge research we are doing, I believe the Coulter Department is the place where we can change the world.
Sincerely,
C. Ross Ethier
Interim Chair, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
at Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University School of Medicine
Lawrence L. Gellerstedt, Jr. Chair in Bioengineering
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
