{"382191":{"#nid":"382191","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lifetime Achievement","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAjit Yoganathan, who helped start, cultivate and grow one of the nation\u2019s leading biomedical engineering departments here at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was recently elected to the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nae.edu\/\u0022\u003ENational Academy of Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer. And in typical fashion, Yoganathan says it\u2019s always been about the work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cAt the end of the day, this honor is a reflection of the work we have done in the lab, all of us, the grad students, the post docs and clinical collaborators \u2013 the hard work that has impacted human lives,\u201d says Yoganathan, Regents\u2019 Professor (and Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Chair) in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering who also holds a joint appointment in the School of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWhat has always been the most important thing for me was the interaction with physicians and clinicians, and making sure the work was relevant to them,\u201d he adds. \u201cI like to see what we do impact the clinical understanding of a problem, or get to the patient in three to five years.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003EYoganathan\u2019s research deals with experimental and computational fluid mechanics as it pertains to artificial heart valves, left and right sides of the heart, and congenital heart diseases. His work involves the use of laser Doppler velocimetry, digital particle image velocimetry, cardiac Doppler ultrasound and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to non-invasively study and quantify blood flow patterns in the cardiovascular system.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn a career that spans 40 plus years he has become one of the world\u2019s leading experts in cardiovascular fluid mechanics, and currently is director of the Center for Innovative Cardiovascular Technologies (CICT, one of the research centers affiliated with the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/a\u003E). After arriving at Georgia Tech in 1979 from Cal Tech, Yoganathan established the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/groups.bme.gatech.edu\/groups\/cfmg\/group\/home.htm\u0022\u003ECardiovascular Fluid Mechanics Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which has become one of the pioneering laboratories in the world studying the function and mechanics of heart valves and other complex cardiac defects.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe son of medical doctors (a GP and a professor of pathology), Yoganathan grew up in Sri Lanka with an interest in human health, but never really considered following in his parents\u2019 footsteps.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI never wanted to be an M.D. I never really wanted to practice medicine, never got into that. But the idea that we can use engineering to work on medical problems, that was intriguing,\u201d says Yoganathan, who got interested in matters of the heart while in grad school at Cal Tech in 1973. Cardiovascular fluid mechanics was a relatively young area of research at the time, but he recognized the challenge and the potential.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI ventured into an area that was something of a risk, in terms of a career, but it was very exciting at that time,\u201d Yoganathan says. \u201cI certainly didn\u2019t think it was something I\u2019d be doing for the next 40 years, but I did think it would impact patients, and that\u2019s what really interested me.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPetit\/BME \u2018Bioneer\u2019\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EA few years after arriving in Atlanta, where he is a jointly affiliated with Emory and Georgia Tech, Yoganathan sort of stumbled into pediatric cardiovascular research. There were virtually no pediatric cardiologists at the time, but through informal conversations with clinicians, he saw the need for research in this highly specialized area. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd his research, obviously translational in nature, has produced some fantastic results. For example, a surgical planning tool, SURGEM (developed together with Professor Jarek Rossignac in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/a\u003E), is revolutionizing pediatric surgery in places where it used (such as Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta, Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Childrens Hospital, three of the leading pediatric hospitals in the country). He also invented a surgical technique, the Y-graft, and his years of experience and growing expertise has made him a consultant of choice for medical device manufacturers.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAt Georgia Tech, Yoganathan was one of the early drivers of a budding biomedical engineering movement, and was one of the pioneers and major contributors in the creation and growth of the Coulter Department, as well as the Petit Institute.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cBME was created as a hybrid of engineering, and a focal point of engineering and medicine at Georgia Tech,\u201d says Yoganathan, who started and headed up the graduate education program at BME, and today serves as the department\u2019s associate chair for translational research. \u201cThe collaborative partnership with Emory was very important, because it brought clinicians to the table. I don\u2019t think we could be a BME department without that. It gives us insight into clinical problems, and allows us to dialogue with world class clinicians. It\u2019s validation for the department.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESo is an honor like the NAE induction. In addition to Yoganathan, other \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/three-coe-faculty-named-nae\u0022\u003ECollege of Engineering members\u003C\/a\u003E elected this year are Deepak Divan, a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, and Vigor Yang, chair and professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ae.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. These professors are among the 67 new elected members.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cAjit is one of the finest scholars in the field of biomedical engineering. The impact he has had in combining mathematical modeling with experimental validation on improving heart valve performance can be measured only by our ability to measure the value of saved lives,\u201d says Ravi Bellamkonda, chair of the Coulter Department. \u201cI am proud of his career. His continued translational efforts and his transparent passion to invent better cardiovascular therapies represent the very best that the Georgia Tech-Emory BME, and Georgia Tech as a whole, have to offer.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EContact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Yoganathan Elected to National Academy of Engineers"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EYoganathan Elected to National Academy of Engineers\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Yoganathan Elected to National Academy of Engineers"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-02-24 23:55:18","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:51","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"294911":{"id":"294911","type":"image","title":"Ajit Yoganathan, PhD - Regents\u0027 Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering","body":null,"created":"1449244514","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:55:14","changed":"1475894993","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:53","alt":"Ajit Yoganathan, PhD - Regents\u0027 Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering","file":{"fid":"199363","name":"yoganathanajit-may2014.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/yoganathanajit-may2014_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/yoganathanajit-may2014_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3981332,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/yoganathanajit-may2014_0.jpg?itok=F4Mc39iW"}}},"media_ids":["294911"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}