Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, MA, associate professor of Thoracic Surgery and adjunct associate professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been inducted to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Bacchetta, a lung transplant surgeon with an extensive engineering background, came to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2018 to be surgical director of a new respiratory institute that will be launched soon.
Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions awarded to a medical and biological engineer.
The college is comprised of the top 2% of medical and biological engineers. College membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering and medicine research, practice or education” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of medical and biological engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education.”
Bacchetta was recognized for his “seminal contributions to the fields of organ transplantation and organ regeneration and engineering.”
His research has focused on the use of mechanical circulatory devices to support patients with advanced lung and right heart disease and the development of devices to support organ recovery and regeneration.
“Dr. Bacchetta has made extraordinary contributions to biomedical science leading to breakthroughs that have real clinical impact and save lives,” said Seth Karp, MD, H. William Scott Jr. Professor and chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center. “This election is recognition and validation of his important work.”
AIMBE fellows are employed in academia, industry, clinical practice and government and represent 34 countries. They include three Nobel Prize laureates, 18 fellows having received the Presidential Medal of Science and/or Technology and Innovation, and 173 also inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, 84 inducted into the National Academy of Medicine and 37 into the National Academy of Sciences.