BME department will contribute to understanding and improving human health.

The College of Engineering celebrated a milestone this fall, recognizing the creation of a department that promises to break new ground in the understanding of human health.

University President Jeffrey Lehman was on hand in early October when a group of faculty, alumni, students, and staff met in the A.D. White House to commemorate the establishment of the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), the college’s first new department in four decades.

Noting that Cornell establishes a new department only after considerable deliberation, Lehman said, “BME has an enormous impact on the kind of university we want to be in the 21st century. This department will make contributions to human health and well being, as well as economic development. It’s significant also because of the role the department will play in the Life Sciences Initiative, which is our top scientific priority.”

Department status, approved last May by the university board of trustees, incorporates a wide range of existing research programs and instructional offerings under one administrative unit. The primary objective is to establish Cornell as a national leader in biomedical engineering research and education, while integrating engineering with life sciences on several levels.

Kent Fuchs, Joseph Silbert Dean of the College of Engineering, told those at the gathering that he felt a sense of responsibility with the formation of a new department. “We are creating a new culture and a new focus in the area of scientific research,” he said. “I expect that the research and education in this department will be the best worldwide.

“I also have a sense of excitement,” Fuchs said. “Our faculty in the BME graduate field is strong, and we will build upon that strength. Cornell has a capability in the life sciences that is unmatched.”

Echoing those remarks was Michael Shuler, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and James and Marsha McCormick Director of the BME program, who will serve as the founding chair of the new department. “A department provides permanence for BME at Cornell, and an opportunity for it to thrive,” he said. “From genetic research to physiology to new devices, our curriculum will serve as a BME education model.”

Shuler also expressed confidence in the department serving as a catalyst for the integration of physical science, engineering, and medicine, and predicted that it will attract the top BME scholars worldwide to Cornell.
Among the department’s objectives are to develop cutting-edge diagnostic tools for detecting and analyzing health problems such as heart disease and cancer, to develop replacement organs and tissues, and to design and deliver drugs that treat major illnesses.

BME bridges biology, medicine, and engineering, establishing links with Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and other life sciences departments at Cornell.

The new department will coordinate its efforts with those of other university programs in transferring life science concepts into engineering. Interactions associated with medicine and human health will be established among biologists, physical scientists, and engineers.

David Fischell, an alumnus of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics (’75, M.S. ’78, Ph.D. ’80), chair of the BME advisory board, and a practicing biomedical engineer, said he has witnessed the rise of BME as a promising field of research. “Where else can you get paid to work on projects that are fun and have the potential to save lives, or make lives better?” he said.

Fischell, founder of biomedical device manufacturing firms NeuroPace, IsoStent, and Cathco Inc., cited the leadership of Fuchs and Lehman as critical in the formation of a new department. “They recognized that this was the right thing to do, and they made it happen,” he said.

—Jay Wrolstad