Jennifer L. West, dean of the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, Nancy and Neal Wade Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been named a fellow of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science. She is one of 505 AAAS members named fellows this year in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications. West is one of 40 individuals elected to the Section on Engineering.
The academy is honoring West for “distinguished contributions to the field of biomedical engineering, particularly for the development of bioactive hydrogels and nanoparticles for photothermal cancer therapy.”
West’s research focuses on applying engineering approaches to biological problems to solve unmet medical needs using biomaterials, nanotechnology and tissue engineering.
She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 and the National Academy of Inventors in 2017, and is an elected fellow of both the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.
Throughout her career, West has been an innovator and entrepreneur, with 19 patents that have been licensed to eight different companies. Nanospectra Biosciences, which West co-founded, is currently running human clinical trials of a cancer therapy she invented.
The AAAS will honor West, along with the rest of the 2022 fellows, at a Washington, D.C., event in summer 2023.
Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society.