Mano J. Thubrikar, Ph.D.

Director, Biomedical Engineering Program; Associate Director, Heineman Research Laboratory; Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Author of the book "The Aortic Valve", CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 1990. He obtained his B.E. degree (first in the Order of Merit) in 1969 in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Nagpur University, India. From New York University he obtained his M.S. in 1971 in the same field and his Ph.D. in 1975 in Biomedical Engineering. He served as an Instructor, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor from 1975 to 1991 and also as the director of Surgical Research from 1980 to 1991 in the Department of Surgery at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia. He joined Heineman in 1991. He is a member of several professional organizations including ASAIO, BME, the Council on Arteriosclerosis (AHA), and is on the board of the International Association for Cardiac Biological Implants. He was a recipient of a Research Career Development Award (1980 - 1985) from the National Institutes of Health, the Certificate of Merit awarded by the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Minna-James Heineman Stiftung Research Award for Outstanding Research Achievements in the Area of Life Sciences in 1998. He has also received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, and private industries. He has published over 53 full-length papers, over 110 abstracts, and written chapters for 8 books. He has been an invited speaker at several international symposiums. His research interests are in the fields of aortic valve, vascular grafts, atherosclerosis and aneurysm.