Bioengineering to welcome new head in March

10/29/2018 Michelle Rice, College of Engineering Communications

Written by Michelle Rice, College of Engineering Communications

Mark Anastasio has been named the new Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering and Head and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Anastasio comes to Illinois from Washington University in St. Louis where he is the Joseph and Florence Farrow Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He begins his new appointment on March 16, 2019, pending approval from the Illinois Board of Trustees.

Mark Anastasio will become Bioengineering Department head on March 16, 2019.
Mark Anastasio will become Bioengineering Department head on March 16, 2019.

Anastasio is an internationally recognized expert in tomographic image reconstruction, imaging physics, and the development of novel computed biomedical imaging systems. He has conducted pioneering research in the fields of photoacoustic computed tomography, diffraction tomography, and X-ray phase-contrast imaging. His research interests include the development of biomedical imaging methods, image reconstruction, and inverse problems in imaging and theoretical image science.

“I am thrilled and honored to lead the Department of Bioengineering into its next exciting phase of growth," said Anastasio. "Due to the wonderful community of scholars conducting basic science, biomedical, and engineering research at Illinois, along with access to world-class engineering facilities and interdisciplinary research centers and institutes, the department is poised to achieve preeminent status. The department’s continued relationships with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and the Carle Foundation Hospital, as well as with other leading medical centers, will provide great opportunities for impactful bioengineering research and will also facilitate the advancement of academic medicine at Illinois.”

Anastasio earned his Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the University of Chicago in 2001, M.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1995, M.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1992.

He joined Washington University in 2011 as a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering with affiliations in both Radiology and Radiation Oncology. In 2013, he became the Interim Chairman of his home department and then was appointed two years later as Associate Chairman. He is the founding director of the Imaging Science Doctoral Program at Washington University.

He received an NSF CAREER award in 2006 for research related to image reconstruction topics. In 2015, he was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, which is made up of the top two percent of accomplished medical and biological engineers responsible for medical discovery and innovation in academia, industry, and government. Earlier this year, he was named a Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). He is also a Senior Member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biomedical Optics, Journal of Medical Imaging, and Photoacoustics, as well as the organizing committee for the SPIE Photonics West Photon Plus Ultrasound Conference. He is also Chairperson of the Emerging Imaging Technologies and Applicatiofns Study Section of the NIH.

Anastasio will succeed Professor Mike Insana, a Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering, who served as interim head since August 2017, and earlier (2008-13), served as the department's head.


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This story was published October 29, 2018.