University of Washington Bioengineer Named Pitt's 2003 Bayer Distinguished Lecturer

March 19, 2003

PITTSBURGH—Implantable medical devices and the biomaterials that comprise them are part of a $100 billion enterprise that saves lives and improves the quality of life for millions worldwide. The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering has named internationally renowned biomaterials researcher Buddy D. Ratner as its 2003 Bayer Distinguished Lecturer. Ratner will deliver two free lectures, on Thursday, March 20, and Friday, March 21, as part of the lectureship.

Ratner, the Washington Research Foundation Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington, will discuss Modern Medical Implants: Malevolent, Marvelous or Merely Money Makers? at 5 p.m. on March 20 in Lecture Room Five on the fourth floor of Scaife Hall on Terrace Street. The lecture will be followed by a reception at 6 p.m.

He will discuss Engineering the Nanobiointerface: Precision Control of Surface Recognition at 11 a.m. March 21 in the Kresge Conference Center on the 11th floor of Benedum Engineering Hall on O'Hara Street.

Ratner, whose primary research is on biomaterials, surfaces, and their interactions with biological systems, received the B.S. degree in chemistry from Brooklyn College in 1967, and the Ph.D. degree in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1972. In 2002, Ratner was elected into the National Academy of Engineering.

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