Communications
We are delighted to share that Tejal Desai, an accomplished biomedical engineer and academic leader who earned a bachelor’s degree with Brown’s Class of 1994, has been appointed the next dean of Brown’s School of Engineering.
An expert in applying micro- and nanoscale technologies to create new ways to deliver medicine to targeted sites in the human body, Dr. Desai is a professor and a former longtime chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, and inaugural director of the Health Innovations Via Engineering initiative, which is aimed at enhancing engineering education and research across UCSF. With a professor in residence appointment at the University of California Berkeley, she has led a National Institutes of Health training grant for the UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering since 2008. Before her arrival at the University of California, she helped to launch new undergraduate and graduate curricula, as well as new teaching and technology labs, at Boston University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In her own research, Dr. Desai leads the Therapeutic Microtechnology and Nanotechnology Laboratory at UCSF. Along with her students and collaborators, she has developed material systems aimed at enhancing tissue regeneration, as well as platforms that work synergistically with human physiology to address autoimmune disorders and other conditions. She has published nearly 250 academic research papers that have been cited collectively over 22,000 times, and her work has generated 27 U.S. patents issued or pending. Dr. Desai has earned recognition as one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 100 Young Innovators, one of Popular Science’s Brilliant 10, and as the winner of the 2012 Paul R. Dawson Biotechnology Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors, as well as president of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
A staunch advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering and academia, Dr. Desai’s work to break down barriers to equity and cultivate a climate of inclusion was recognized with the Judith Poole Award from the Association for Women in Science and the UCSF Chancellors Award for the Advancement of Women. As president of AIMBE, she launched an anti-racism summit focusing on policy transformation in bioengineering, as well as an annual meeting to explore ways in which engineers can address racial and other disparities in health care.
In recent years, Dr. Desai has served as a member of Brown’s biomedical engineering advisory board. In joining the School of Engineering as dean, she will lead the third oldest engineering program in the U.S. and the oldest in the Ivy League. Under the leadership of inaugural dean Lawrence Larson, who last fall announced his plans to return to full-time teaching and research at the conclusion of the 2021-22 academic year, engineering at Brown has experienced dramatic growth with the addition of new faculty, surging research funding and the construction of a state-of-the-art, 80,000-square-foot research and teaching facility. In succeeding Dean Larson, Dr. Desai’s responsibilities will include continuing to grow the school’s research enterprise with a focus on pressing societal challenges, as well as deepening collaboration within the school and across campus. A key priority will be continuing to diversify the school’s student body at all levels while recruiting and retaining more faculty from historically underrepresented groups.
We are deeply grateful to the faculty, staff, administrators and students who served on the search committee. Professor Desai has been a transformative leader of programs that develop and support young researchers, foster cross-disciplinary approaches to critical engineering challenges and support diversity, equity and inclusion in the engineering field. As a Brown graduate, she keenly understands the innovative and collaborative character of engineering at Brown, and we look forward to working with her in her new role as dean.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Desai to the Brown community.
Sincerely,
Christina H. Paxson
President
Richard M. Locke
Provost
An expert in applying micro- and nanoscale technologies to create new ways to deliver medicine to targeted sites in the human body, Dr. Desai is a professor and a former longtime chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, and inaugural director of the Health Innovations Via Engineering initiative, which is aimed at enhancing engineering education and research across UCSF. With a professor in residence appointment at the University of California Berkeley, she has led a National Institutes of Health training grant for the UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering since 2008. Before her arrival at the University of California, she helped to launch new undergraduate and graduate curricula, as well as new teaching and technology labs, at Boston University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In her own research, Dr. Desai leads the Therapeutic Microtechnology and Nanotechnology Laboratory at UCSF. Along with her students and collaborators, she has developed material systems aimed at enhancing tissue regeneration, as well as platforms that work synergistically with human physiology to address autoimmune disorders and other conditions. She has published nearly 250 academic research papers that have been cited collectively over 22,000 times, and her work has generated 27 U.S. patents issued or pending. Dr. Desai has earned recognition as one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 100 Young Innovators, one of Popular Science’s Brilliant 10, and as the winner of the 2012 Paul R. Dawson Biotechnology Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors, as well as president of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
A staunch advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering and academia, Dr. Desai’s work to break down barriers to equity and cultivate a climate of inclusion was recognized with the Judith Poole Award from the Association for Women in Science and the UCSF Chancellors Award for the Advancement of Women. As president of AIMBE, she launched an anti-racism summit focusing on policy transformation in bioengineering, as well as an annual meeting to explore ways in which engineers can address racial and other disparities in health care.
In recent years, Dr. Desai has served as a member of Brown’s biomedical engineering advisory board. In joining the School of Engineering as dean, she will lead the third oldest engineering program in the U.S. and the oldest in the Ivy League. Under the leadership of inaugural dean Lawrence Larson, who last fall announced his plans to return to full-time teaching and research at the conclusion of the 2021-22 academic year, engineering at Brown has experienced dramatic growth with the addition of new faculty, surging research funding and the construction of a state-of-the-art, 80,000-square-foot research and teaching facility. In succeeding Dean Larson, Dr. Desai’s responsibilities will include continuing to grow the school’s research enterprise with a focus on pressing societal challenges, as well as deepening collaboration within the school and across campus. A key priority will be continuing to diversify the school’s student body at all levels while recruiting and retaining more faculty from historically underrepresented groups.
We are deeply grateful to the faculty, staff, administrators and students who served on the search committee. Professor Desai has been a transformative leader of programs that develop and support young researchers, foster cross-disciplinary approaches to critical engineering challenges and support diversity, equity and inclusion in the engineering field. As a Brown graduate, she keenly understands the innovative and collaborative character of engineering at Brown, and we look forward to working with her in her new role as dean.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Desai to the Brown community.
Sincerely,
Christina H. Paxson
President
Richard M. Locke
Provost