NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma has announced Wei R. Chen, Ph.D., as director of the Peggy and Charles Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME). He has served as Stephenson Chair and professor of SBME and became its interim director last year.
“Dr. Chen is a leader in both biomedical engineering and our OU community, and we’re pleased to have him guide our Stephenson School as it enters its next decade,” said John Klier, Ph.D., dean of the Gallogly College of Engineering.
Under Chen’s leadership, the school will continue its transformational work in health care education and research. SBME was founded in 2016 and welcomed its 10th undergraduate class this fall. Before joining the University of Oklahoma in 2020, Chen served as professor of biomedical engineering and dean of the College of Mathematics and Science at the University of Central Oklahoma.
His contributions toward cutting-edge cancer research, including the treatment of late-stage, metastatic cancers and the mechanisms behind antitumor immune responses, earned him the title of Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors last year. Chen has also received numerous other awards and honors, including Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
A decade-long partnership between the University of Oklahoma and Southcentral Foundation, an Alaska Native-owned, nonprofit health care organization based in Anchorage, Alaska, has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to grow and strengthen a research workforce serving American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities.
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