Rensselaer Professor Deepak Vashishth Named Fellow of AIMBE

December 1, 2011

Biomedical Engineering Expert Honored for Work in Bone and Tissue Engineering

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Deepak Vashishth

Bone and tissue engineering expert Deepak Vashishth, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

AIMBE cited Vashishth for “significant contributions to the field” and profession of biomedical engineering, and having “the leadership ability to play a transformational role in our field and in our society.” AIMBE fellows are nominated and elected by the organization’s College of Fellows, which represents the top 2 percent of the medical and biological engineering community.

“We offer our heartiest congratulations to Dr. Vashishth. It is a wonderful and well-earned honor to be recognized by your professional colleagues at this highest level,” said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. “As an elected fellow of the AIMBE, Deepak is joining a distinguished group of engineering faculty at Rensselaer who also hold the distinction of fellow in their professional societies. This is a reflection of the high level of esteem in which Rensselaer senior faculty are held. Deepak’s achievement and national recognition shine brightly on the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the entire School of Engineering.”

At Rensselaer, Vashishth is among the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine core faculty of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS). His interdisciplinary research focus, propelled by more than $5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), includes biology and hard tissue mechanics, cellular control of tissue growth and development, mechanobiology of skeletal tissue regeneration, and fatigue fractures of long bones. Through cellular and tissue-level studies, Vashishth investigates and identifies age-related changes in the biological and mechanical characteristics of skeletal tissues. He also endeavors to develop microenvironments that are conducive to functional tissue engineering of bone.

Since joining the Institute in 1999, Vashishth has won several awards, including the 2002 Outstanding Professor Award from the Rensselaer Interfraternity Greek Council and the 2002 Rensselaer Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2003, he received the Rensselaer School of Engineering Research Award and in 2005 received the Rensselaer Class of 1951 Outstanding Teaching Award.

The author of more than 48 peer-reviewed papers, Vashishth is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, and a permanent member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study section on skeletal biology and skeletal regeneration. He regularly serves as a member of special emphasis panels for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Research, and is a reviewer for the national research organizations of Austria, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Vashishth received his bachelor’s degree from the Malviya National Institute of Technology in 1989, and went on to earn his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at West Virginia University in 1992, and doctorate in biomedical materials from the University of London in 1997. He joined Rensselaer’s School of Engineering in 1999, after serving for two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in bone biomechanics and biology at the Bone and Joint Research Center in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

For more information on the Vashishth’s research at Rensselaer, visit:

Contact: Michael Mullaney
Phone: (518) 276-6161
E-mail: mullam@rpi.edu

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