Vanderbilt University engineering professor Michael R. King has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program recognizes academic inventors who have created or facilitated outstanding inventions that make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.
King, J. Lawrence Wilson Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is an expert in the transport and adhesion of cells and particles in the circulation, and technologies for cell and particle separations and cancer drug delivery. The NAI Fellows Selection Committee noted King’s highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating inventions that serve society.
King is the co-founder of StemCapture and CellTraffix. His in vivo stem cell extraction device detects, isolates and targets rare stem and cancer cells in complex mixtures of bodily fluids. He is the lead inventor on four U.S. patents in the field of cellular and molecular bioengineering and six U.S. patent applications.
In recognition of the impact of King’s technologies, he has received an industry award from Sanofi-Aventis, and has given invited talks at Oracle Research Cloud Computing and 3M Pharmaceuticals Division, and has served as a consultant for Natural Nano, Nidus Biosciences, and Bioforce Medical.
King is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and currently the chair-elect of the AIMBE College of Fellows. He also is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. King has served as founding vice president of the International Society of Bionic Engineering. He is Editor-in-Chief of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, an official BMES journal, and served as chair of the Biomedical Engineering Council of Chairs.
An accomplished researcher, King has written textbooks on statistical methods and microchannel flows, and has received awards including the NSF Career Award, Outstanding Research Awards from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Clinical Chemistry, and the James D. Watson Investigator award of New York State.
The 2022 Fellows will be inducted in June at the Fellows Induction Ceremony at the NAI’s 12th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Other NAI fellows in the School of Engineering are Philippe Fauchet, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering; Michael Goldfarb, H. Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering and co-director of the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology; Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science Director John Gore, Hertha Ramsey Cress Chair in Medicine and University Professor of radiology and radiological sciences, biomedical engineering, physics and astronomy, and molecular physiology and biophysics; and Biophotonics Center at Vanderbilt Director Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, Orrin H. Ingram Professor of Engineering, professor of biomedical engineering and professor of neurological surgery.
Contact: Brenda Ellis, 615 343-6314
brenda.ellis@vanderbilt.edu