David Merryman, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, will receive a 2011 University of Tennessee Alumni Promise award in September. Merryman is one of four 2011 recipients.
The Alumni Promise Award recognizes UT alumni no older than 40 who have demonstrated distinctive achievement in a career, civic involvement or both. This award is presented to acknowledge alumni who are making a mark early in their career.
Merryman’s research interests include cell mechanics, cardiovascular mechanobiology and pathophysiology.
The Merryman Mechanobiology Laboratory in the Vanderbilt School of Engineering advances the scientific knowledge of cellular stimuli effects and the instrumentation that makes such studies possible. The lab is located in one of the Vanderbilt Medical School research buildings and brings together faculty, students and physicians to address cardiovascular disease and other issues related to cellular sensing and control.
External funding to the MML include the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.
Merryman joined the Vanderbilt School of Engineering in 2009 from the University of Alabama-Birmingham where he was an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. He earned a B.S. in engineering science and a M.S. in engineering science in 2001 and 2002, respectively, from the University of Tennessee. He completed a Ph.D. in bioengineering in 2007 at the University of Pittsburgh.