News and Information

OHSU FACT SHEET: BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

What Is Biomedical Engineering?

• Biomedical engineering applies the principles of engineering to medical problems. The goal is to create medical devices, diagnostics and therapeutics that improve human health.
• Examples of modern biomedical engineering breakthroughs include pacemakers, dialysis machines, imaging technologies, artificial organs, prosthetic limbs, nicotine patches and cardiovascular stents.
• The field employs approximately 32,000 people, according to the National Academy of Engineering.

Facts about OGI's New Biomedical Engineering Department

• OHSU's Department of Biomedical Engineering is Oregon's first standalone BME department and one of only a handful of like programs in the West.
• A $4 million gift from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in 2001 funded the creation of the new department.
• BME will award accredited Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in both biomedical engineering and electrical engineering.
• OGI expects about 25 new BME students in the fall, said Associate Department Head William Roberts, Ph.D. The average annual enrollment is projected to be between 30 and 35 Ph.D. students and six to eight M.S. students.
• OGI expects to award about six Ph.D.s and three M.S. degrees per year over the next five years.
• BME is expected to have 13 full-time faculty members and 18 part-time adjunct or jointly appointed faculty, Roberts said.
• Representative Biomedical Engineering Research Projects at OGI
• Computer analysis of red blood cells, urine, molecules and other biological materials for faster and easier disease detection
• Mathematical models to better characterize bone fractures
• Lasers that detect diseases and can accurately deliver light-sensitive medications to treat such diseases as lung cancer
• Biomaterials to repair or replace damaged human tissue and body parts
• Devices to improve and/or rehabilitate function in people with cognitive impairments
• Health care delivery systems for use in homes, assisted-living facilities and other residential settings to help in the monitoring, evaluation and treatment of people disabled by aging, chronic disease or disability.