December 4, 2008
Paul Yager named chair of bioengineering
Paul Yager, acting chair of the UW Department of Bioengineering since 2007, became department chair on Nov. 24. Yager has been a bioengineering professor since 1995, and a UW faculty member since 1987.
Matthew O’Donnell, dean of the UW’s College of Engineering, and Paul Ramsey, dean of the UW School of Medicine, appointed Yager as chair. The bioengineering department is an interdisciplinary group that bridges engineering and medicine, and is part of both the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine.
Yager works on diagnostic technologies, including systems to improve diagnoses in the developing world. His group uses microfluidic technologies, the manipulation of liquids at very small scales. In 2005 he received a $15.4 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create a portable, rugged and cheap tool for blood tests that could be used in developing countries to diagnose diseases such as malaria and typhoid.
“Paul Yager exemplifies what it means to be a modern bioengineer,” said O’Donnell. “His work combines biology, chemistry, and engineering design principles to create devices for global health and point of care diagnostics.”
Yager received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry in 1975 from Princeton University and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Oregon in 1980. He worked in the Naval Research Institute until 1987, when he came to UW as an associate professor in bioengineering. He was appointed vice-chair of the Bioengineering Department in 2001.
He has received 32 patents, and is enthusiastic about the merging of research and commercialization at UW. “Here at the University of Washington, we generate not only knowledge and science, but technology,” Yager said. “Bioengineers are by definition people who think about the intersection of medicine and technology.”
“Paul is a strong advocate for technology transfer within the University, and we expect that the department’s significant innovations, start-up companies and patents will flourish under his leadership,” Ramsey said. “We are very pleased to have him in this critical leadership position.”
