Congratulations to Ravi Bellamkonda, chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, on his appointment as the new Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University, effective August 1.

"This is a prestigious appointment and we congratulate Ravi on being named Dean of Engineering at Duke," said Gary S. May, dean of engineering and Southern Company Chair at Georgia Tech.  "I look forward to continuing to work with him in different capacities at the regional and national levels. He has done a phenomenal job as chair of the Coulter Department."

Chris Larsen, dean of the Emory University School of Medicine, echoed those sentiments saying, "Ravi has inspired his department and his many colleagues at both Emory and Georgia Tech with a strategic vision of research and educational excellence while empowering his faculty to drive innovation and encourage entrepreneurship among their students."

As chair since 2013, Bellamkonda helped develop programs to sustain deep student learning and entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level.  He also directed an NIH-funded training grant on the Rational Design of Biomaterials, initiated a novel graduate leadership program for bioengineering graduate students, and is co-principal investigator for the Emory-Georgia Tech- Morehouse College Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) grant. 

Bellamkonda’s own research involves an exploration of the interplay of biomaterials and the nervous system for designing novel brain-machine interfaces, using immunomodulation to foster nerve repair and design devices for brain tumor therapy.  It is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, Ian’s Friends Foundation, Georgia Research Alliance and the Marcus Foundation.

A graduate of Osmania University (India) who received his Ph.D. from Brown University and did post-doctoral training at MIT, Bellamkonda started his career at Case Western Reserve before moving to the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2003. From 2010-2013, he served as associate vice president for research at Georgia Tech, where he led programs to enhance translational research, technology transfer and programs that encourage innovation in research and education and faculty development.

Bellamkonda is the president of the American Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering (AIMBE), a policy advocacy group, and is a frequent consultant on biomedical engineering research and education.  He’s the recipient of numerous honors, including the Clemson Award for Applied Research from the Society for Biomaterials, the EUREKA award from the National Cancer Institute, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, and the best professor award from the Georgia Tech BME students.

The Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech began in 1997 as a joint program between a public university and private entity - creating leaders in research, academia, and industry. The department is ranked in the top three in the country with more than 1,300 undergraduate and 200 graduate students enrolled. They are the largest biomedical engineering department in the country.