Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic#
| Membership Number: | 3177 |
| Membership type: | FOREIGN |
| Section: | CELL & DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY |
| Elected: | 2012 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED STATES |
| Homepage(s): | http://bme.columbia.edu/gordana-vunjak-novakovic |
Present and Previous Positions
- Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering
- 2011 Vice-Chair, Dept of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York
- 2011 Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences (in Medicine)
- 2005 Professor, Columbia University, Dept of Biomedical Engineering, New York
- 2005 Director, Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Columbia University
- 2005 Visiting Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard-MIT Division for Health Sciences and Technology
- 2009 Visiting Professor, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
- 2009 Honorary Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Belgrade
- 2002 Adjunct Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering. Tufts University, Medford MA
- 1998 - 2005 Principal Research Scientist, Harvard – MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, MIT, Cambridge MA
- 1994 - 2004 Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University
- 1993 - 1998 Research Scientist, Whitaker College, MIT, Cambridge MA
- 1993 - 1999 Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Belgrade University, Yugoslavia
- 1987 - 1992 Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Fields of Scholarship
- Bioengineering
- Stem cells
- Regenerative medicine
- Biomaterials
- Tissue engineering
- In vitro biology
- Bioreactors
Honours and Awards
- 2026 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award "for her pioneering work in human tissue engineering and regenerative medicine"
- 2023 Elected to the Royal Society of Canada – Academy of Science
- 2023 Technology Venture Ambassador
- 2023 Rosalind Franklin Society and Mary Ann Liebert Inc., the best paper in Stem Cells and Development
- 2023 NIH Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on Novel Alternative Methods to Animal Testing (ACD-WG)
- 2023 Vice-president of the Belgrade University Alumni Association
- 2022 BIOS Top 50 Academic Life Science Entrepreneurs
- 2022 National Academy of Engineering, Chair of Section 2: Bioengineering;
- 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS)
- 2021 Featured in “Narratives on Discovery”, Rut Charon
- 2021 Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE)
- 2021 Life Sciences Power 50
- 2021 Pierre Galletti Award, AIMBE's highest honor
- 2020 Order of Karadjordje Star, Serbia’s highest honor
- 2020 Featured in “Invincible Women: Conversations with 21 Inspiring and Successful American Immigrants” by Bilha Fisch
- 2020 Petit Distinguished Lecture, Georgia Institute if Technology and Emory, Atlanta
- 2019 Person of the year in Serbia
- 2019 Award of the NCATS-ASPIRE Design Challenge for Biological Assays for Translational Innovation in Pain, Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose (with Kacey Ronaldson-Bouchard, Joriene de Nooij and Naveed Tavakol)
- 2019 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2019 HHMI Scientific Review Board
- 2019 Innovation and Commercialization Award, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society of the Americas (TERMIS)
- 2019 AIChE Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering
- 2019 Shu Chien Achievement Award, Biomedical Engineering Society
- 2019 Birnberg Medal, College of Dental Medicine, Columbia University
- 2019 Advisory Council of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
- 2018 Advisory Council of the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
- 2017-2020 Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), Board of Directors; Chair of the Science and Technology Committee
- 2017 Robert A. Pritzker Award for 2017, Biomedical Engineering Society
- 2017 NIBIB National Advisory Council speaker, NIH, January 24, 2017.
- 2017-2018 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Chair of the College of Fellows
- 2017 Doctorate Honoris Causa, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
- 2016 - 2017 Chair, College of Fellows, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIBME)
- 2016 - 2018 Board of Directors, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
- 2016 - 2022 “Cardiac Contractility, Hypertrophy, and Failure” study section, permanent member; resigned effective May 22, 2018 following election to the NIBIB National Advisory Council
- 2016 Award of the Materials Research Society of Serbia for Lasting and Outstanding Contribution to Material Science and Engineering
- 2015 Bioengineering Peer Committee, National Academy of Engineering
- 2014 Election to the National Academy of Inventors
- 2014 Election to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- 2014 Election to the National Academy of Medicine
- 2014 Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2014
- 2013 National Academy of Engineering, Executive Committee, Section for Bioengineering; Fritz J and Dolores H Russ Prize Committee
- 2013 Founding Class of the International Fellows of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
- 2012 Elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
- 2011-2014 Continental Chapter Council (North America) of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society
- 2010 2010 Clemson award of the Society of Biomaterials “for significant contributions to the literature on the science or technology of biomaterials”
- 2010 Finalist, The World Technologies Award for Biotechnology
- 2009 - New York Academy of Sciences, elected member
- 2008 Inducted to Hall of Fame, Women in Technology International (one of 5 leaders in science and technology in 2008)
- 2008 - US Section Head, Musculoskeletal Repair & Regeneration Section, Faculty 1000 of Medicine
- 2007 Director’s lecture, NIH, October 17, 2007; the first woman engineer to receive this distinction (http://videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents.asp?c=3&s=31
)
- 2006 NASA Award for a patent “BMP-2, BMP-12, and BMP-13 Modulate in Vitro Development of Engineered Cartilage”
- 2005 The Association of Orthopedic Research, Switzerland; team award “for the best science in orthopaedics” (with Meinel, Ziechner. Fajardo, and Kaplan)
- 2004 Outstanding Performance Medal, World Congress of In Vitro Biology
- 2004 Space Act Award, NASA, for patent describing bioengineering of anterior cruciate ligaments
- 2004 Space Act Award, NASA, for patent describing gene transfer of a growth factor to enhance tissue engineering of cartilage
- 2000 - Elected Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
- 1997 Medal of recognition, Centennial of the Serbian Chemical Society, Belgrade YU
- 1987 – 1992 Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Biomass Committee
- 1980 City of Belgrade award for the best PhD thesis in engineering
- 1975 Belgrade Chamber of Commerce award for the best MS thesis in engineering
