Adam Alessio will lead the Michigan State University Department of Biomedical Engineering as interim chair and former BME Chair Christopher Contag will now focus his attention on growth strategies in the College of Engineering, Dean Leo Kempel has announced.
Alessio is a professor of computational math, science and engineering; biomedical engineering; and radiology. He begins as interim BME chair on Nov. 1, 2021.
Contag is the Hannah Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics; director of the Institute for Quantitative Health Science & Engineering (IQ) and the James and Kathleen Cornelius Endowed Chair.
Kempel said BME has become "a truly outstanding biomedical engineering department" in the past seven years, with 24 faculty members and 60 Ph.D. students.
"It has achieved national recognition and there has been continuously increasing research expenditures that reached a peak of $3.7 million annually from external resources and total research expenditures of $9.1 million annually."
Kempel credits Professor Mark Worden for the solid foundation he laid as acting department chair in the first two years. Worden is a professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and biomedical engineering.
"Mark helped us to recruit Professor Chris Contag as the director of IQ, as well as chairperson of BME, in November 2016."
Both BME and IQ have grown dramatically since then.
"Chris' vision and hard work have catalyzed not only a diverse portfolio of innovative biomedical research, but a cohesive vision for MSU to become a significant leader in a number of exciting areas in biomedicine and beyond."
Additionally, Kempel noted, there is a significant expansion of health science research across MSU, including in the College of Engineering. BME, as well as other departments in the college, will contribute to this overall effort as MSU seeks to reach $1 billion in annual research expenditures.
"Because of this opportunity and the effort required to meet these expansion needs, I have asked Dr. Contag to focus his activities on our growth strategy across the college. Please join me in thanking him for his years of dedication and hard work in building BME at MSU into a nationally ranked department."
Alessio joined the MSU faculty in 2018 from the University of Washington, where he was a professor of radiology and bioengineering.
"Adam has grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the medical imaging industry to study medical image acquisition and analysis, with a focus on data-driven models for improved diagnostics in pediatric, oncology, and cardiac applications. He has authored over 150 journal and conference publications. Adam is passionate about undergraduate and graduate education and has helped launch the new MSU degrees in data science."
Alessio will work with faculty, staff, and students to position the department for an open search for the next chairperson to lead the department into its next growth phase.
"Help me welcome them both into their new roles," Kempel added.