History of the Department of Bioengineering

In 1925, Dr. M. McPhedran of the Henry Phipps Institute and Dr. Charles Weyl of the Moore School initiated cooperative research on problems regarding apparatus and techniques in chest roentgenography.  This activity was organized as the Moore School X-Ray Laboratory, and also involved Drs. S. Reid Warren, Jr., Ralph Showers, C. Justus Garrahan, and Dallet B. O'Neill.  During this period, Dr. Carl Chambers became involved in some of the research problems of Drs. Givvon and Bassett of the School of Medicine.

In 1950, Dr. Herman P. Schwan, who was then in the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, was attracted to the Moore School and initiated work with the group, then called the Electromedical Division.  A number of students were involved in electromedical research at that time; Edwin Carstensen became interested in the application of ultrasonics to biomedical problems and became Professor Schwan's first graduate student.  From 1955 to 1960, the Electromedical Division changed form as Dr. Schwan moved his research efforts from the Medical School to the newly constructed Pender Laboratory.  In 1961, when the electromedical group became the Graduate Group in Biomedical Electronic Engineering, it received one of the first two training grants for Ph.D. studies in biomedical engineering.

The Department of Bioengineering was formally approved by the University in 1973.  This approval united bioengineering research and academic programs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and consolidated already existing Ph.D. programs in biomedical electronics, biomaterials, biomechanics, and other areas with medically related research programs oriented toward human and animal systems.  The undergraduate program was started in late 1970's.

Today, Bioengineering has 13 primary faculty, 5 emeritus faculty, 9 secondary faculty, and over 50 affiliated faculty who provide the core teaching and research environment for over 250 undergraduate and 60 graduate students.  Ever since the department was founded, it has consistently been ranked as one of the best bioengineering programs in the country for preparing students for careers in industry, medicine, business and other fields related to biomedical technology.

Department of Bioengineering
School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Pennsylvania
210 S. 33rd Street
Room 240 Skirkanich Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone No.: (215) 898-8501
Fax No.: (215) 573-2071
beoffice@seas.upenn.edu

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