Duke Biomedical Engineering is one of the oldest and best biomedical engineering departments in the country, and it currently ranks as one of the top five graduate and undergraduate programs in the field. Research in the department began with cardiac electrophysiology, medical ultrasound and biomaterials. Today, that expertise has grown to include research spanning neural engineering, optical engineering, cellular and tissue engineering, synthetic biology, biomedical data science, and drug and gene delivery.
Graduates of the department have achieved significant distinction through major awards such as the Rhodes, Fulbright and Marshall Scholarships, and National Science Foundation Fellowships. These graduates have gone on to become path-breaking leaders in both academia and industry.
Duke BME has been recognized as a pioneer in the field of biomedical engineering since its founding in 1967, thanks in part to the numerous collaborations with the nearby Duke University Medical Center, Trinity School of Arts and Sciences, and a multitude of respected research centers, including the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering, the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, the Duke Global Health Institute and the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.
The faculty, staff and students who make up the Duke BME community have ensured that the department has remained a strong and vibrant program throughout its fifty-six-year history, where they work together to engineer innovative solutions to today’s most pressing biomedical problems.