2023 Otto Schmitt Lecture (Edelman) | Institute for Engineering in Medicine Archives

"How Engineering Facilitated an Explosion in Medical Innovation"

11:00 AM & 2:00 PM
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Health Sciences Education Center (HSEC 2-110)

BIO

Elazer R. Edelman, M.D., Ph.D., is the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Senior Attending Physician in the coronary care unit at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He and his laboratory have pioneered basic findings in vascular biology and the development and assessment of biotechnology. Dr. Edelman directs MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) as well as the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center (BMEC) – all dedicated to applying the rigors of the physical sciences to elucidate fundamental biologic processes and mechanisms of disease.

Dr. Edelman received Bachelor of Science degrees in Bioelectrical Engineering and in Applied Biology from MIT, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from MIT, a Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from MIT, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

His research interests meld his medical and scientific training to better understand underlying biology for application towards improved clinical decision making and device design. For example, his work examining the cellular and molecular mechanisms that produce atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease led to the development and optimization of the first bare-metal stents, as well as subsequent iterations on the technology including drug-eluting stents.

Many of his findings have been or are now in clinical trial validation. More than 300 students and postdoctoral fellows have passed through Dr. Edelman’s laboratory enabling publication of over 680 original scientific articles and some 80 patents.

Dr. Edelman is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the Association of University Cardiologists, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Inventors, the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Engineering. As Chief Scientific Advisor of Science: Translational Medicine he has set the tone for the national debate on translational research and innovation. As co-founder of ASTM F04.03 he helped create standards for cardiovascular implants. He served as a member of FDA’s Science Board and an ORISE fellow in the FDA EIR. For his work bringing cardiovascular translational research to an international level of excellence, the Spanish Parliament and King Juan Carlos awarded Dr. Edelman with the Spanish Order of Civil Merit for his work. Most importantly, Elazer is an avid ice hockey goalie, and with his wife Cheryl are parents to comedian and writer Alexander, Olympic athlete AJ, and Austin.