Elazer R. Edelman is an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

and

cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

. He is the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

(MIT), Professor of Medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools ...

and at

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two fo ...

(BWH), and a practicing cardiologist at BWH. He is the director of MIT's

Institute for Medical Engineering and Science The Institute for Medical Engineering and Science or IMES is a research institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Mass ...

(IMES), the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center, and the MIT Clinical Research Center. He is also the Program Director of the MIT Graduate Education in Medical Sciences program within the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. At BWH, he serves as a senior

attending physician In the United States and Canada, an attending physician (also known as a staff physician or supervising physician) is a physician (usually an M.D. or D.O.) who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the s ...

in the

coronary care unit A coronary care unit (CCU) or cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) is a hospital ward specialized in the care of patients with heart attacks, unstable angina, cardiac dysrhythmia and (in practice) various other cardiac conditions that require co ...

. He is currently the Chief Scientific Advisor for the journal ''

Science Translational Medicine ''Science Translational Medicine'' is an interdisciplinary medical journal established in October 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It covers basic, translational, and clinical research on human diseases. According t ...

''. Edelman was elected as a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 2012 for contributions to the design, development, and regulation of local cardiovascular drug delivery and drug eluting stents. He is also a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010 ...

and the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

Background and education

Edelman was raised in the

greater Boston area Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...

. He attended the

, where he received bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and in Applied Biology, and a master's degree in EECS. He earned his M.D. degree with distinction from

and Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics within the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He conducted his Ph.D. thesis work under the direction of

Robert Langer Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng (born August 29, 1948) is an American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and one of the twelve Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was formerly the Germesh ...

to define the mathematics of regulated and controlled drug delivery. Edelman completed his medical training at

and is board certified in internal medicine and

cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

. Following this, he spent six years as a research fellow under the tutelage of Prof. Morris J. Karnovsky to work on the biology of vascular repair. Edelman and his wife, Cheryl, have 3 children:

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple p ...

, A.J., and Austin.

Research

Edelman is a major advocate of multidisciplinary research. Through his research centers, he combines teams of clinicians, engineers, and scientists from both academia and industry to create highly effective and clinically relevant solutions to medical problems. Through this approach, Edelman and his students have been credited as some of the key contributors and pioneers of the

coronary stent A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease. It is used in a procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PC ...

. They critically aided in the development, characterization, and optimization of the first

bare-metal stent A bare-metal stent is a stent made of thin, uncoated (bare) metal wire that has been formed into a mesh-like tube. The first stents licensed for use in cardiac arteries were bare metal – often 316L stainless steel. More recent "second generation ...

s and subsequent iterations including

drug-eluting stents A drug-eluting stent (DES) is a peripheral or coronary stent (a scaffold) placed into narrowed, diseased peripheral or coronary arteries that slowly release a drug to block cell proliferation. This prevents fibrosis that, together with clots ...

. Edelman's research programs fall in the following general categories: *polymer-based controlled and modulated drug delivery *vascular biology, glycobiology, and growth factor biochemistry *tissue engineering *biomaterials and tissue interactions *device biology

Awards and honors

Edelman has authored or co-authored more than 680 original scientific publications, holds some 80 patents, and has trained more than 300 students and post-doctoral fellows. He has served on several advisory boards including the Science Board to the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

. Edelman has been elected a fellow of the

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...

American College of Cardiology The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of t ...

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, ...

, American Society of Clinical Investigators,

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

, Association of University Cardiologists,

, and

. He received the Officer's Cross of the Spanish

Order of Civil Merit The Order of Civil Merit ( es, Orden del Mérito Civil) was established by King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1926. The order recognizes "the civic virtue of officers in the service of the Nation, as well as extraordinary service by Spanish and fore ...

in 2010. Selected awards received by Edelman include: *2018: Distinguished Scientist Award, American College of Cardiology *2017: Career Achievement Award, Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) *2016: Plenary Lecture, Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland Bioengineering Section *2015: Flexner Discovery Lecturer,

Vanderbilt University Medical Center The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a medical provider with multiple hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as clinics and facilities throughout Middle Tennessee. VUMC is an independent non-profit organization, but maintains acad ...

*2015: Massimo Calabresi Lecturer,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

*2015: Dean's Distinguished Lecture, Weill Cornell Medical School *2014: Lifetime Achievement Award, International Conference on Innovation *2014: Clemson Award for Basic Research, The Society for Biomaterials *2012: Hollingsworth Distinguished Lecturer,

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cockrell School *2011: Lewis Katz Visiting Professorship in Cardiovascular Research,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

*2010: Officer's Cross of the Spanish

*2009: Jeffrey M. Hoeg Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Award for Basic Science and Clinical Research *2007: A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award *2006: American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Joseph S. Barr Award *1992: Marcus Award,

*1982: Soma Weiss Award,

References

External links

Edelman LabAcademic Family Tree of Professor Elazer Edelman

TedMed Talk by Elazer Edelman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelman, Elazer R. People from Boston MIT School of Engineering faculty MIT School of Engineering alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Engineers from Massachusetts American cardiologists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellows of the American College of Cardiology Members of the National Academy of Medicine