Hong Chen and Jonathan Silva, both faculty members in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, have been named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors. They will be inducted in June.
Chen and Silva are being recognized as academic inventors who are rising leaders in their fields with success in patents, licensing and commercialization and for producing “technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society.” They are among 553 senior members affiliated with NAI member institutions worldwide.
Chen, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and of neurosurgery at the School of Medicine, focuses on medical ultrasound. Her goal is to develop ultrasound technologies for non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases, as well as deepening our understanding of brain functions.
Silva, a professor of biomedical engineering, developed software to provide a holographic display to physicians who perform catheter ablations for arrhythmia. The system, the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared application of its kind, integrates existing imaging systems to create a real-time 3D interface. The software recently was tested in humans, and the results showed physician accuracy significantly improved with the display. The system is expected to be widely available in the United States in 2025.
Read more on the McKelvey School of Engineering website.
