Oral-History:IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Oral Histories

IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Oral Histories

In anticipation of the EMBS 50th Anniversary celebration in 2002, the IEEE History Center conducted numerous oral histories of leading engineers in this area:

• Robert Arzbaecher - Worked in teaching before transitioning into biomedical engineering. He worked on theoretical electrocardiography, invented the swallowable pill electrode, and founded the Arzco Medical Systems with his family.
• Albert "Les" Babb - Worked in chemical, nuclear, and biochemical engineering and made his most significant contributions applying the latter for medical advancements.
• James Bailey & Rosalie Dunn - The interview surveys developments and people in electrocardiography from the 1950s to about 1980. Dunn's role is as a statistician and Bailey evaluates the results of tests.
• James Bassingthwaighte - The originator of the Human Physiome Project and former director at the Center for Bioengineering at the University of Washington, his research has combined physiology and biomedical engineering.
• John Chato - A Professor of Mechanical, Biological, and Nuclear Engineering for over 30 years at the University of Illinois. His primary focus was on heat transfer research.
• Shu Chien - Originally in physiology, he transitioned to biophysics. His many accomplishments include being the founding chair of the Department of Biological Engineering at UCSD and president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.
• Murray Eden - A mathematician and biophysicist who was the Director of the Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Program at National Institutes of Health for almost 20 years.
• Yuan-Cheng "Bert" Fung - Influential in both Aeronautical Engineering and Biomechanics, he is the recipient of the President's National Medal of Science .
• Leslie Geddes - Electrical engineer and physiologist who was involved in the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and was a 2006 National Medal of Technology recipient.
• Wilson Greatbatch - Electrical engineer who advanced pacemaker battery technology and created his own company, Greatbatch, Inc., to develop and sell pacemaker batteries.
• Dov Jaron - Biomedical Engineer who was a President of the IEEE EMBS and co-developed the intra-aortic balloon pump.
• Richard J. Johns - Spent his career at Johns Hopkins, where he became the first Director of the Biomedical Engineering as a separate department at Hopkins in 1970.
• J. Lawrence Katz - Applied crystal physics to biological studies and was one of the founders of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
• Robert Mates - Biomedical engineering researcher, faculty of the University of Buffalo and founder of their Center for Biomedical Engineering.
• Edward Merrill - A pioneer in the field of biomedical engineering and faculty at MIT for 60 years. At MIT he launched biomedical engineering as a major focus of their chemical engineering department.
• Nicholas Peppas - A chemical and biomedical engineer who has taught at Purdue University and the University of Texas at Austin and is a leading researcher in biomaterials and delivery.
• Buddy Ratner - Researcher at the University of Washington who focused on topics involving blood compatibility with biomaterials.
• John M. Reid - Known as a pioneer of biomedical ultrasound imaging. He also a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a teacher at Drexel University.
• Murray Sachs - Founding Director of the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute whose primary research area is the neural processing of speech.
• Herman Schwan - Helped build the institutional basis in several organizations for biomedical engineering and was a winner of the IEEE Edison Medal.
• Matthew Tirrell - His main research has been in polymer surface properties and he has been a Sloan and a Guggenheim Fellow.
• Max Valentinuzzi - Set up the Department of Bioengineering at University of Tucumán. His research has included impedance microbiology and the application of deconvolution to physiology.
• Walter Welkowitz - Worked extensively in instrumentation and started up a biomedical engineering program within Rutgers University’s Electrical Engineering Department.