Advisory Board

  • Buddy Ratner, Ph.D. | Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board

    Buddy D. Ratner is the Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. (1972) in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Professor Ratner is a past president of the Society for Biomaterials, a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a fellow of AVS The Science and Technology Society and a Fellow, Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE). He served as president of AIMBE, 2002-2003. He was vice president of the Tissue Engineering Society International (TESI) 2003-2005. In 2002 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, USA. Ratner is the author of more than 400 scholarly works. His research interests include biomaterials, tissue engineering, polymers, biocompatibility, surface analysis of organic materials, self-assembly, nanobiotechnology and RF-plasma thin film deposition. He has won the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Biomaterials Literature, the C.M.A. Stine Award in Materials Science (AIChE), the Medard W. Welch Award (AVS) and the 2005-6 C. William Hall Award of the Society for Biomaterials. Dr. Ratner was most recently elected a Fellow of the American Association For the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

  • Allan S. Hoffman, Ph.D. | UW Professor, Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering

    Allen S. Hoffman is a joint Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington where an endowed lectureship in Biomaterials and Molecular Bioengineering is given annually in his honor. Since receiving his Ph.D. (1957) in Chemical Engineering, Professor Hoffman has become a leading authority on biomaterials and carriers for drug delivery. In 2005, Professor Hoffman was elected into the National Academy of Engineering, U.S.A., for his “Pioneering Work on the Medical Uses of Polymeric Materials.” Both the Controlled Release Society and the Society for Biomaterials have awarded Professor Hoffman their prestigious Founder’s Awards (2007 and 2000) for his lifetime of achievements in the areas of controlled release for drug delivery and “smart” polymers. Dr. Hoffman is the author of more than 350 scholarly works. His research interests include smart polymer bioconjugates, hydrogels, drug delivery, and polymeric surfaces. Professor Hoffman is a past president for the Society of Biomaterials and has served as the chairman for the Gordon Conference on Biomaterials. He has also served as a trustee and member of the board of directors for the International Society of Artificial Organs.

  • Tueng T. Shen, M.D., Ph.D. | Director of the Refractive Surgery Center at UW Medical Center; UW Associate Professor, Ophthalmology

    Tueng T. Shen, MD, PhD is the director of the Refractive Surgery Center at the University of Washington Medical Center. Dr. Shen was named the first Lions Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington in 2003. She specializes in refractive surgery, medical and surgical management of corneal disorders and cataract surgeries. After receiving her Ph.D. in Medical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, Dr. Shen went on to complete her medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1997. Following her formal education, she then went on to complete her residency in Opthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School in 2001. Since then Dr. Shen has become an active staff member of the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Wa. Dr. Shen has extensive training and experience in Cornea and Refractive surgery. Her clinical expertise includes advanced techniques for refractive surgeries (LASIK, LASEK, PRK, etc.), cataract surgeries, corneal transplantation surgeries, anterior segment reconstruction, and management of corneal and external diseases. Her current research lies in corneal tissue engineering for the treatment of corneal blindness and drug delivery solutions for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases.

  • Larry Crum, Ph.D. | UW Professor, Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering; Founder of the Center for Medical and Diagnostic Ultrasound

    Dr. Lawrence A. Crum is currently Principal Physicist and Founder/Former Director of the Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound in the Applied Physics Laboratory, and Research Professor of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. He also works part-time as President of UltraSound Technologies, Inc., a company he founded in 2001. He has held previous positions at Harvard University, the U. S. Naval Academy and the University of Mississippi, where he was F. A. P. Barnard Distinguished Professor of Physics and Director of the National Center for Physical Acoustics. Dr. Crum received his doctorate in 1967 from Ohio University in Physics. Professor Crum has published over 300 articles in professional journals, holds an honorary doctorate from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, and was recently awarded the Helmholtz-Rayleigh Silver Medal of the Acoustical Society of America. He is Past President of the Acoustical Society of America and of the Board of the International Commission for Acoustics. His principal areas of interest are therapeutic ultrasound, physical acoustics, and image-guided therapy.

  • John D. Loeser, M.D. | UW Medicine Professor, Neurosurgery and Anesthesiology

    Dr. Loeser holds professorships in both the Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is an attending neurosurgeon at the University of Washington Medical Center. After receiving his undergraduate degree at Harvard, Dr. Loeser obtained his medical degree at New York University Medical School in 1961, going on to complete a surgical internship at UCSF and a five-year residency in Neurosurgery at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle. After the completion of his residency, Dr. Loeser served as a surgeon in the military, and as an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Loeser’s clinical practice has focused on pain management and pediatric neurosurgery, with special interest in congenital malformations of the nervous system and its coverings. He is internationally known for his work in the management of pain, with numerous book and journal publications to his credit. Dr. Loeser has been recognized as one of the “Best Doctors in America” and has served as the Director of the Multidisciplinary Pain Center at the University of Washington (1983-1997). Dr. Loeser’s current research interests encompass the development of the human nervous system and the mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain, as well as health care delivery for lower back pain.