Nicholas A. Peppas

Nicholas A. Peppas, Sc.D. is the Cockrell Family Regents Chaired Professor in the Departments of Chemical, Biomedical Engineering, Pediatrics, Surgery and Pharmacy, and Director of the Institute of Biomaterials, Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine of the University of Texas at Austin. His work in biomaterials, drug delivery bio-nanotechnology, and nanomaterials follow a multidisciplinary approach by blending modern molecular and cellular biology with engineering principles to design the next-generation of therapeutic agent release systems for treatment of diabetes, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, medical systems, and devices for patient treatment. Over the past four decades, he has set the fundamentals and rational design of biomedical systems and developed models of drug and protein diffusion in controlled release devices and biological tissues. He has 145,000 citations with H=178. His inventions include articular cartilage, new vocal cords, non-thrombogenic biomaterials, and artificial organs, delivery systems for insulin (diabetes), calcitonin (osteoporosis), interferon-beta (multiple sclerosis), and other applications. Peppas has received the Founders (Simon Ramo) Award of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE, 2012) and the Adam Yarmolinsky Award of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM, 2018), the highest recognitions of these two Academies. Peppas is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors. Peppas is a fellow of AAAS, AIChE, APS, ACS, MRS, SFB, BMES, AIMBE, CRS, AAPS, and ASEE. He holds a Dipl. Eng. from the NTU of Athens (1971), an Sc.D. from MIT (1973).