Leadership Announced for the New Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University have chosen the inaugural leadership of the new Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine. Selected as Director is Joel Saltz, MD, Cherith Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics. The Associate Director will be Yuefan Deng, PhD, Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics.

“The Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine is a joint venture of the Renaissance School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, PhD, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “It is intended to catalyze convergence science research with strong translational focus by bringing together clinicians engineers, data scientists and biologists. The complementary expertise of Dr. Saltz and Professor Deng is exactly what is needed to help fulfill the Institute’s mission to serve as the innovation ecosystem for the healthcare of the future.”

“The convergence of engineering and medicine, as exemplified by the Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine, has a unique potential to revolutionize healthcare,” said Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, Senior Vice President, Health Sciences and Dean, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. “Dr. Saltz and Professor Deng are the right leaders to ensure immediate impact from this critical initiative.”

The Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine will leverage convergence science by stimulating and enabling cross-cutting research fusing biomedicine and engineering in a manner that leverages data science, artificial intelligence, life and  physical sciences. This will result in groundbreaking research leading to transformative therapies, new medical algorithms, devices and technologies that support patients, communities and clinical care providers. The Institute will also develop new educational programs to prepare the next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs and  clinicians who will implement technological innovations. This will help stimulate regional economic development by translating new discoveries into products through a focus on commercialization and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Saltz is a renowned informatician, computer scientist and a physician whose cross-cutting work drives the development of computational medicine. He has been a pioneer in using machine learning and artificial intelligence in pathology with many successful applications and current work that targets use of digitalized pathology information to better steer cancer therapy. In 2013, he joined Stony Brook as Vice President for Clinical Informatics and Founding Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics to create a living laboratory for biomedical informatics. Since then, he has built a dynamic department spanning both the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Professor Deng conducts research into developing parallel computing algorithms for a wide range of applications in science, engineering and medicine including the latest project of modeling the dynamics of platelets and their interactions. This NIH-sponsored project attracts a large number of collaborators in biomedical engineering, biomedical informatics, cardiology, and applied mathematics for designing intelligent multi-scale algorithms using machine learning and in developing physiological understanding of the thrombosis formation. Professor Deng also developed parallel optimization technique that have been adapted in supercomputer network design, machine learning, as well as quantitative finance.

Chief among the duties of Dr. Saltz and Professor Deng will be to establish and execute the overall strategic direction of the Institute in consultation with the Deans of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Renaissance School of Medicine. These appointments are effective immediately.

Visit the Institute's website at:  https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/iedm/