Northwestern Engineering’s Guillermo A. Ameer has been named a fellow of the Materials Research Society for his contributions to regenerative engineering through pioneering work developing antioxidant citrate-based polymers that are useful for musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, dermal, and urological applications, rendering them enabling technologies to improve health.
Ameer is the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and a professor of surgery in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He also is founding director of Northwestern’s Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering. and a member of the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute.
Founded in 2008, the MRS Fellows program recognizes outstanding contributions to the field, including research, leadership, and service that have advanced the mission of the materials community world-wide. It is intended to be a lifetime recognition of distinction in the field, rather than an award for a specific achievement.
A prolific author of academic papers, Ameer holds numerous patents. Since October 2020, several innovative orthopedic medical devices, Citrelock, Citrefix, and Citrespline, fabricated from a novel biomaterial pioneered in Ameer’s lab have received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for use in surgeries to attach soft tissue grafts to bone.
The honor is the latest for Ameer, who was a recipient of the 2021 Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature from the Society for Biomaterials, inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Chemical Engineers by the University of Texas at Austin’s McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, and elected to the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering for 2021-2023 as Chair-Elect of the College of Fellows. He was also named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2020, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019.
Other McCormick School of Engineering faculty that previously were named MRS Fellows include:
- Sossina Haile, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and professor of applied physics, in 2018
- Joseph Hupp, professor of chemistry, and predictive science and engineering design graduate program faculty, in 2016
- Teri Odom, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and (by courtesy) professor of materials science and engineering, in 2016
- The late professor emerita Julia Weertman, in 2014
- Chad Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and (by courtesy) chemical and biological engineering and biomedical engineering, in 2013
- Mark Hersam, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and (by courtesy) electrical and computer engineering, in 2012
- Vinayak Dravid, Abraham Harris Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, in 2010
- David Seidman, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, in 2010
- Mercouri Kanatzidis, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and (by courtesy) professor of materials science and engineering, in 2010
- Tobin Marks, Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Catalytic Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering and (by courtesy) materials science and engineering, in 2009
- Samuel Stupp, Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Medicine, and Biomedical Engineering, in 2009
- Robert Chang, professor of materials science and engineering, in 2008
- Manijeh Razeghi, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in 2008
- John Rogers, Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery, in 2008
The original story appeared on Nov.1, 2021 in Northwestern Now by Brian Sandalow.