Ghadiali named chair of Biomedical Engineering

On September 1, professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Samir Ghadiali, will become chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He will succeed Dr. Richard Hart, Edgar C. Hendrickson Designated Professor and Department Chair, who has served as chair since 2006.

Ghadiali earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University and his M.S.E. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Tulane University. He completed post-doctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh and was the Frank Hook assistant professor of bioengineering at Lehigh University before arriving as an associate professor at Ohio State in 2008.

“We have embraced the increasingly important role of engineering in advancing health care solutions,” said College of Engineering Dean David B. Williams. “Through that lens, Samir’s collaborative nature, desire to discover and innate ability to lead aligns very well with our expectations of this growing department.”

Ghadiali is a recognized expert in the areas of biofluid mechanics, multi-scale modeling and pulmonary mechanobiology. In 2013, Ghadiali was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop computational models of the respiratory system in patients with chronic ear infections (i.e., otitis media) and has received National Science Foundation grants to investigate the biomechanical mechanisms of lung injury and cancer metastasis. His group is currently developing “lung-on-a-chip” platforms for drug screening applications.

“With strong ties to both engineering and medicine, our faculty and students are developing cutting-edge technologies to improve human health,” Ghadiali said. “We are very excited about the pending relocation of Biomedical Engineering to main campus and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues as we seek to strengthen collaborations across campus, attract the best students and faculty and showcase our innovative teaching activities.”

Ghadiali has authored more than 80 peer reviewed publications and has twice been chair of the Respiratory Engineering track at the annual Biomedical Engineering Society meeting. He received the NSF Career Award in 2008, the Herman Weed Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010 and the Lumley Interdisciplinary Research Award in 2015. Ghadiali is a member the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Bioengineering Division, the American Thoracic Society and was recently elected a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.