ESB Council Elections 2014: Candidates

One member of the current Council will stand for re-election:

Stephen Ferguson

Stephen Ferguson was appointed in 2011 as Full Professor of Biomechanics at the Institute for Biomechanics of the ETH Zurich. He was born in 1968 in Canada. He completed his studies as a mechanical engineer at the University of Toronto in 1991. Following a stint in industry, he completed his master studies at Queen’s University in 1994, followed by a research internship at the AO Research Institute in Davos. From 1996 – 2000 he wrote his doctoral thesis at Queen’s University. After his promotion, he spent two years as a postdoc at the University of Bern before assuming leadership of the Biomechanics Division there. In 2006 he received his Venia Docendi in “Musculoskeletal Biomechanics” at the University of Bern, where he was also co-director of the ARTORG Spine Research Center.
The focus of his research is the study of the mechanical and biological mechanisms of musculoskeletal disorders and injuries and the use of innovative technologies for their treatment. The challenge presented by an ageing population is of primary importance. He and his group study new biomaterials and implant concepts and develop the technical means for their application in the clinic.

He is the author of over 110 scientific papers, 7 book chapters and 3 patent applications. In 2009, he and his co-authors received the European Spine Journal GRAMMER prize for best scientific work. In 2005, he and his partners received the CTI Medtech Award for the project “BoneWelding”. He is on the editorial board of the journals Clinical Biomechanics and Journal of Biomechanics. He has been an ESB Council member since 2010, serving as liaison for EAMBES and for the WCB2014 and would welcome the opportunity to continue to serve.

Full CV

 

Fourteen Society members also applied for election:

 

Maria-Grazia Ascenzi

Dr. Maria-Grazia Ascenzi is a Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in its Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Following her laurea in Matematica at the Università di Roma La Sapienza, she earned her PhD in Theoretical Mathematics from Brandeis University. Her research combines micro-dissection, micro-mechanical testing of bone micro-structures, analysis of imaging, and multi-scale modeling conducted on super-computers to construct clinically-relevant virtual bone. She probes determination of micro-structural factors that reduce bone quality and strength in terms of age, sex, clinical and environmental factors. She investigates the components of bone micro-structure and the patterns that it forms in the whole bone, to understand the alteration of the micro-structural environment. Dr. Ascenzi’s major interest is orientation of collagen type I, a calcification-independent determinant of bone strength. Dr. Ascenzi promotes interdisciplinary bone research across Clinical, Biology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines. She teaches research techniques to undergraduate and graduate students in her laboratory and is associated with various scientific organizations. In addition to her academic activities, she is one of the few female National Referee candidates within the American Youth Soccer Organization. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband Patrick, their son Zachary and dog Zoe.

Full CV

 

Zahra Asgharpour

I have started my activities in field of biomedical engineering-biomechanics since 2003. In 2006, pursued my education with an international master program in field of computational mechanics at Technical University of Munich, enhancing my knowledge on application of numerical methods in engineering. In 2009, I joined the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as a PhD researcher working on the EU-funded Project of ROSETTA. The research was conducted on numerical analysis of bone fracture using the finite element human models. I had a collaborative research with the Strasbourg University (IMFS), where I performed extensive studies on head and brain injuries using the FE model of human head. I had an academic visit to the Laboratory of Biomechanics at the French Institute of science and technology for transport, spatial planning, development and networks (IFSTTAR) in Marseille.

In 2012, I joined the Automotive Safety Technologies Company (A Joint Venture between AUDI AG and Andata GmbH). I have been working as the specialist for FE human modeling, coordinating the activities of occupant safety using FE human models and have active cooperation with R&D engineering and management division of VW/AUDI/Porsche. I have been participating in EU-funded projects and performing research activities with national and international universities.

 

Peter Augat

Peter Augat is a Professor of Biomechanics at Paracelsus Medical Uni-versity in Salzburg, Austria and the Director of the Institute of Biome-chanics at Trauma Centre Murnau, Germany (http://www.bgu-murnau.de/de-DE/medizin/biomechanik/). He received his MSc in phys-ics from the University of Ulm in 1990 and obtained his Ph.D. in biology in 1995. His previous positions include Head of the Osteoporosis and Fracture Healing Research Group at the Institute of Orthopaedic Re-search at the University of Ulm and Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Peter is Past President of the International Society for Fracture Repair (ISFR), Past President of the German Society of Biomechanics (DGfB), and Member of several societies in the area of musculoskeletal research including ESB, ORS and IBMS. He is on the editorial board of several orthopaedic journals including Biomedical Engineering, AOTS, JOT, EJTS and also reviewer for most major musculoskeletal journals. Peter’s research is focused on biomechanics of fracture repair and on the clinical translation of orthopaedic research. He published more than 200 scien-tific articles and supervised a total of 52 doctoral theses.
Peter’s main focus as a new member of the ESB council would be edu-cation and international collaborations.

Full CV

 

Sara Checa

Sara achieved her degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Malaga, Spain, in 2003. She then completed her PhD at the University of Southampton in the Bioengineering Science Research Group on finite element modeling of early knee replacement devices. She has conducted post-doctoral research at the Trinity Center for Bioengineering in Ireland, at the Julius Wolff Institute in Germany and at Stanford University in the USA. She is currently a group leader at the Julius Wolff Institute, specializing in computer modeling of mechano-biological processes occurring during bone healing and adaptation at the tissue and cellular scales. She is an author of 15 publications in peer- reviewed journals, several book chapters and more than 60 contributions to International and National Conferences. She has been an ESB member since 2007.

Full CV

 

 

Despina Deligianni

Despina Deligianni is an Associate Professor (since 2009) in ‘Biomechanics of hard tissue and skeletal systems and related biomaterials’ in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics, University of Patras, Rion, Greece. She has been the Director of the Laboratory of Biomechanics & Biomedical Engineering since 2013. She holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece; and a PhD in bone biomechanics from the University of Patras, Greece (1991).
Her research interests are in the fields of: cancellous bone mechanical behaviour and its modeling; ultrasonic propagation through cancellous bone and osteoporosis modeling for its early diagnosis; design and analysis of osteosynthesis devices; cell-biomaterial interactions and development of composite nanobiomaterials for orthopedic or generally biomedical applications. She is an author of 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals with more than 850 citations. She lectures in courses on biomechanics, biomaterials and artificial organs in the undergraduate and postgraduate programs of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics.

Full CV

 

Markus Heller

After receiving an MSc degree in aeronautical & astronautical engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Markus Heller obtained a PhD in human biology (University of Ulm) and a lecturer ship in experimental surgery (Charité Berlin, Germany). Since 2012, Markus is full professor of biomechanics at the University of Southampton (UK) where he co-chairs the University’s strategic research group in health technology.
Markus focussed his career on understanding and quantifying the role of the mechanical loads in musculoskeletal injuries and diseases. His work utilizing quantitative methods to assess the internal loading conditions and function of the extremities is aimed at improving the practice of joint surgery and trauma care and has been recognized by numerous prestigious international awards including the Clinical Biomechanics as well as the S.M. Perren awards of the European Society of Biomechanics.

Markus serves as treasurer of the German Society of Biomechanics (DGfB) and as member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, is ad-hoc reviewer for numerous biomedical journals and charities as well as the German Research Foundation (DFG), and sits on the Research subcommittee of Arthritis Research UK.

Full CV

 

Christian Hellmich

Christian Hellmich is Full Professor and Director of the Institute for Materials and Structures in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), where he also received his engineering (1995), Ph.D. (1999), and habilitation degrees (2004); after serving as postdoctoral associate at M.I.T. (2000-2002). His work focuses on well-validated material and (micro)structural models, both for materials such as concrete, wood, or bone as well as man-made biomaterials, and for structures such as tunnels, pipelines, bridges, or the vertebrate skeleton including implants and tissue engineering scaffolds – with complementary experimental activities if necessary. His scientific contributions, including more than 220 seminar and conference presentations as well as more than 90 refereed journal publications at the crossroads of mechanics, engineering, biology, and medicine, have shaped the current (bio)mechanical understanding of the aforementioned materials and (micro-)structures, as indicated by an h-index of 24/29 (Scopus/Google), but more importantly by various new industrial and clinical applications. The latter mostly build upon his coupled biophysics-biomechanics multiscale methods for enhanced exploitation of modern imaging techniques. As a rule, cross-fertilization between engineering and life sciences remains his major trademark, while his interdisciplinary activities have recently reached out to the arts as well.

Full CV

 

Bernardo Innocenti

Bernardo Innocenti was appointed to the position of Professor of Biomechanics within the BEAMS (Bio Electro and Mechanical Systems) Department at ULB, Université Libre de Bruxelles, in 2012.
Born in Florence, Italy in 1976, he achieved his master degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialization in Biomechanics, at the University of Florence where he also completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in the field of numerical modeling and mechanical design.
From 2002 to 2007, he worked as researcher for an orthopedic company, and he was responsible of the BioLAB (Biomechanics Laboratory) at the University of Florence. In the same period he was contract professor for the courses of: ‘Biomaterials’ and ‘Medical Devices’ at the Faculty of Medicine, Engineering and Architecture.
From 2007 up to 2012 he worked as Lead Project Manager at the European Centre for Knee Research, Smith&Nephew,

His main research field is the Orthopaedic biomechanics, in particular the analysis and investigation of the human knee joint; in this field he is author/co-author of more than 50 articles in international peer-reviewed journals.
In 2009 he won the Marc Coventry Award of the Knee Society for the Best Scientific Paper and the ‘Richard S. Laskin Award’ in 2011.

Full CV

 

Jacques Ohayon

I received my MSc degree in Biomechanical Engineering at University of Compiègne (UTC) in France in 1982 and my PhD in Cardiac Mechanics in 1985 at the University of Paris12Val-de-Marne (UPVM). From 1985 to 1988 I was a Visiting Fellow at the Biomedical Engineering Branch of the National Institutes of Heath (NIH), Bethesda MD USA. I joined the UPVM in December 1988 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanics. In 1993 I was appointed Professor of Mechanics in the Engineering School Polytech Annecy-Chambéry of the University of Savoie, France. Since 2003, I perform my research at the Laboratory TIMC-CNRS UMR 5525 of Grenoble in the group Cellular/Tissular Dynamics and Functional Microscopy (DyCTiM). From 2006 to 2007 I was an invited senior scientist at the Laboratory of Integrative Cardiovascular Imaging Science at the NIH, USA. My current research interests are in vulnerable plaque detection, plaque rupture prediction, plaque growth and development of new clinical tools for imaging the elasticity of vulnerable plaque based on clinical OCT, MRI and IVUS sequences.

Full CV

 

Josué Sznitman

Josué joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in October 2010 as an Assistant Professor where he directs the Technion Biofluids Laboratory. He graduated from MIT with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering (2002) and earned a Dipl.-Ing in Mechanical Engineering (2003), followed by a PhD (2008) at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). For his Masters, Sznitman was honored with an ETH Medal (2004); his PhD was awarded the ETH Silver Medal and the 2008 Research Award from the Swiss Society of Biomedical Engineering. In January 2008, Sznitman came to the University of Pennsylvania as a Postdoctoral Fellow and in 2009, he joined the Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University as a Lecturer and Research Associate, appointed by the Council of Science and Technology. Josué’s principal research interests lie in the study of physiological flows, in particular respiratory flows and particle inhalation, using experimental flow visualization, cellular microfluidics, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Sznitman has received several honors including a Young Research Award for his contribution to Swiss Pediatric Research (2005), a Young Scientist Award at the 12th Internal Symposium of Flow Visualization (2006), and the 2012 Bergmann Memorial Research Award (US-Israel Binational Science Foundation).

Full CV

 

Mark Stuart Thompson

Born and brought up in Edinburgh, UK, I was attracted to biomechanics during my engineering degree at the University of Oxford. Pursuing this direction I obtained my PhD from the University of London with Liz Tanner, and became an ESB member. I moved to Sweden to work with Leif Ryd as a Marie Curie Fellow in Lund, and spent three exciting years in Berlin as AO Research Fellow and leader of the mechanobiology group with Georg Duda at the Charité.

I returned to the UK in 2006 to take up a faculty position in Orthopaedic Biomechanics at Oxford, and founded the Oxford Mechanobiology Group. Part of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, we are located on the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre site with a focus on musculoskeletal mechanobiology. I have published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and my h-index is 16. I have graduated six PhD students and currently supervise or co-supervise ten. I teach undergraduate and graduate engineering courses in mechanics of materials, solid mechanics and mechanobiology.

I am a keen off-road runner and mountaineer, and when time allows enjoy singing, playing the bassoon and learning languages, trying to stop my German, Swedish and Russian from becoming too rusty.

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Philipp Thurner

Dr Philipp Thurner is a Professor of Biomechanics at the Institute for Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics at the Vienna University of Technology and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southampton. He holds an MSc degree (Physics) from Graz University of Technology and a PhD degree (Materials Science / Biomedical Engineering) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. After post-doctoral work at the University of California Santa Barbara and San Francisco (2004-2007), he was Lecturer, Reader and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southampton, before taking up his current appointment in 2013.

His basic research interests are focused on the correlation between ultra- and microstructure and mechanical function of bone as well as soft tissue. Motivation arises from pathologies like osteoporosis and asthma, leading to alterations of tissue mechanics, with severe consequences for patients. Translational goals are achievement of better diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting tissue quality and function. In this context, his group is currently investigating the power of reference point indentation as a tool for fracture risk diagnosis complementary to DEXA and FRAX. He has so far authored 49 original articles and he has been a member of ESB since 2010.

Full CV

 

Harry van Lenthe

It is my ambition to contribute to maintaining a strong and thriving ESB community to strengthen biomechanics research in Europe.

My name is Harry van Lenthe. I am a Professor of Biomechanics at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium. I studied Mechanical Engineering at University of Twente, Enschede, and received a Ph.D. in Medicine (Orthopedic Biomechanics, 2001) from Radboud University, Nijmegen. I worked as a post-doc at Eindhoven University of Technology and at ETH Zurich where I became Lecturer in 2004. Since my move to Leuven in 2007 I have kept a part-time position at ETH. At KU Leuven, I am the Program Director of the Master in Biomedical Engineering, hence, am responsible for the quality of the curriculum as well as for student affairs.

My research focuses on the quality of bone, and how it is changing during growth and aging. In addition, I’m studying the interaction between bone and implants. I am an author on more than 85 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 5 book chapters, and over 230 full proceedings and abstracts. I have received several awards including the ESB Research Award (2000), and the Young Investigator Award from the International Bone Densitometry Workshop (2004).

Full CV: harryvanlenthe.com