Two professors from George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing at Rice University—Marcia K. O’Malley and Jeffrey Tabor—have been elected Fellows of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), an honorary body of fellows who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the profession of medical and biological engineering at an international level.
O’Malley, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Thomas Michael Panos Family Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, is a world-renowned leader in rehabilitation robotics and haptic interfaces. She has pioneered the design and development of wearable robotic exoskeletons, control algorithms, and haptic interfaces for clinical and industrial applications. Her research emphasizes upper-limb rehabilitation, including the development of adaptive control algorithms that respond to patient intent and ability. Several clinical studies of these new devices used with stroke and spinal cord injury patients have shown sustained and long-term improvements in motor coordination and movements.
“It is an incredible honor to be recognized by an esteemed body of top-notch bioengineers from all over the world,” O’Malley said. “I’m thrilled to be one of the two Fellows selected from Rice this year and send my warmest congratulations to my colleague, Professor Tabor.”
Tabor, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice, is a leading synthetic biologist whose work harnesses bacterial signal transduction systems as tools for medical diagnosis and therapy, environmental monitoring, and biomedical research. His work has led to the discovery of bacterial systems that detect pH and biomarkers of gut inflammation, enabling a new diagnostic and a therapeutic approach in animal models of inflammatory diseases such as colitis and Crohn’s disease. He has also developed genetically-encoded light sensors to study how gut bacterial metabolism impacts longevity.
“It is a special honor to be elected as an IAMBE Fellow, and I’m thankful to the tremendously talented and motivated trainees and collaborators I’ve been fortunate to work with during my career,” Tabor said.
O’Malley and Tabor will be formally inducted during the IAMBE ceremony at the IUPESM World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, September 29 – October 4 in Adelaide, Australia.
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