Chris Hernandez wins BRITE Fellow Award
Congratulations to Chris Hernandez for named to the inaugural class of BRITE Fellows. The award comes with $1 million in research funding from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation. Read more
Marjolein van der Meulen begins term as President of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS)
In her more than 20 years as an ORS member, Dr. van der Meulen has served in numerous and varied roles at the organization, as well as being a longtime advocate for early-career and marginalized professionals in the academy. Read more
Lawrence Bonassar wins Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award
The 2022 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award was presented to Lawrence J. Bonassar, PhD, for his research on the microscale mechanics and composition of articular cartilage and their relevance to musculoskeletal disease. Read more
2022 Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Scholars Award Winner
Congratulations to Atieh Moridi on being selected as the 2022 Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Scholars Award winner for the Manufacturing Category.
Atieh Moridi earned her Ph.D. (cum laude) in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2015; served as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Departments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2015 and 2018; and has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University since 2019. Dr. Moridi’s proposal addresses a number of the challenges to personalized medicine, in which treatments can be tailored to the individual needs of each patient. In particular, in a customized-materials–reliant field like orthopedics, which has stringent regulatory oversight and requires high-quality, defect-free parts, these challenges include the inability for current implants to mimic the structure and mechanical properties of the bone, inaccurate anatomical fitting that adversely affects surgical placement of the devices, and limited restoration of the biological function of the remaining bone surrounding the implant. One field that is expected to play a growing role in the evolution of materials that will enable more personalized medical treatment is Additive Manufacturing (AM). The ease of design customization and the achievable structural complexity via AM could present the solution to unanswered materials issues in orthopedics. Unlocking the full potential of AM requires addressing a number of fundamental challenges including process stability, part quality and reproducibility. Dr. Moridi’s research aims to improve the quality of AM by developing a new paradigm for real-time detection of process anomalies by “listening” and “watching” the AM process using acoustic emissions and synchrotron X-ray imaging. She proposes to use machine learning to correlate physics-based insights from sophisticated X-ray imaging experiments to simpler, low-cost, and scalable acoustic emission signals. Having such a reliable technology for qualification of parts as they are printed is critical for one-off printing of patient-specific implants and provides a new paradigm for affordable, personalized healthcare. Through her collaboration with the Center for Advanced Materials and Engineering in Orthopedics (CAMEO) at the Hospital for Special Surgery, her research discoveries promise to be translated into clinically relevant applications, ultimately impacting real patients.
She has an excellent publication record for someone at this stage of her career, with 13 peer-reviewed journal articles (first author on 6 of these papers) and a sole-authored book. Her record shows an impressive citation count of 1345 and a Field Weighted Citation Index of over 2.5. She is Principal Investigator or Faculty Adviser on current grants totaling over $1,000,000.
Diversity Programs in Engineering (DPE) Annual Awards 2021
Congratulations to Phd students Jason Chang, Andarawis-Puri Group and Tibra Wheeler, van der Meulen Group on being selected to receive Diversity Programs in Engineering Awards for 2021. Jason received a Ephrahim Garcia Graduate Excellence in Mentoring Award and Tibra received a Zellman Warhaft Graduate Student Commitment to Diversity Award.
Researchers look to gut microbiome to improve bone health
A Cornell-led collaboration has been awarded a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore the ways that the gut microbiome impacts bone quality.
HSS-CU CAMEO awarded an NIH Training Grant
HSS-CU CAMEO is awarded an NIH Training Grant for the ‘Combined Engineering and Orthopaedics Training Program’. The goals of the 5-year program are to educate, support, and empower exceptional pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees to excel in careers that apply the principles of engineering to maintain and restore musculoskeletal function. The emphasis is on developing well-rounded scientists and clinician-scientists who will leverage cross-disciplinary collaborations, cross-institutional resources, and comprehensive mentoring to develop successful independent careers in the orthopaedic sciences. For more information, contact Dr. Suzanne Maher (mahers@hss.edu) or Dr. van der Meulen (mcv3@cornell.edu).
Lisa Fortier Named Inaugural Editor-in-Chief for Journal of Cartilage & Joint Preservation
This is a new fully open-access journal from the International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society. The goal of Journal of Cartilage & Joint Preservation is to provide a journal that is optimally aligned with the goals of the Society with a unique consideration of whole-joint health and is a platform for authors rapid dissemination of work.
Larry Bonassar Selected as an ORS 2021 Fellow
Congratulations to Larry Bonassar on being selected as an ORS 2021 Fellow!
ORS Fellows are the longstanding members of the Orthopaedic Reseach Society who have demonstrated exemplary service and leadership, substantial achievement, expert knowledge, and significant contributions to the ORS, its Governance, and the field of musculoskeletal research. Fellows represent ORS as the thought leaders and experts in their respective disciplines. Fellows also serve as role models in the ORS community and in the field of musculoskeletal research.
Larry and the other ORS Felllows will be honored during the Plenary Session of the Orthopaedic Research Society Annual Meeting on February 15, 2021.
Andrea Ippolito named to Biden’s Transition Team
Congratulations to CAMEO program alum, Andrea Ippolito on being named to President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition team for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ms. Ippolito was a Master of Engineering student in Larry Bonassar’s lab, working with PhD alum, Jeff Ballyns on a project culturing human meniscus cells from OR samples collected by Dr. Scott Rodeo. After her time at Cornell Ms. Ippolito went on to work in industry for a few years followed by a M.S. in science policy at MIT. She went on to serve as the Director of the VA Innovators Network at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ms. Ippolito currently is a lecturer in Engineering Management and the S.C. Johnson College of Management at Cornell University, where she is teaching policy and entrepreneurship. She and her family, including husband, Dr. Alex Macualey, who did his orthopaedics residency at HSS, live in Ithaca, NY.