Dr. Karl Jacob Jr. and Karl Jacob III Early-Career Chair and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Eun Ji Chung has been awarded the prestigious honor of election as a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Chung was recognized for her groundbreaking work in drug delivery and as a mentor to the next generation of engineers.
The BMES Grade of Fellow is a professional distinction granted by the BMES Board of Directors to a member who has demonstrated impactful achievements and has made significant contributions to the biomedical engineering community.
Each year, BMES members who contribute exceedingly to the biomedical engineering field qualify for this accolade nomination. Chung was presented with the honor at the recent BMES Annual Meeting in Seattle, which was co-chaired by Nichole A. and Thuan Q. Pham Professor and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Stacey Finley.
Chung is an expert in molecular design, nanomedicine and tissue engineering to generate biomaterial strategies for clinical applications. A key focus of her lab’s research involves the design and application of self-assembling, peptide nanoparticles for targeted cardiovascular and cancer treatments, as well as for the treatment of kidney disease.
A faculty member in the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, Chung received her B.A. in Molecular Biology with honors from Scripps College, Claremont, California, and her Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Program and the Department of Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.
In 2019, Chung was named a NANOMED New Innovator by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was also presented with the 2020 Rising Star Junior Faculty Award by the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). She was also a recipient of the 2022 American Heart Association American Heart Association Transformational Project Award.
She was named 2019 Orange County Engineering Council Outstanding Young Engineer and a Journal of Materials Chemistry B Emerging Investigator for 2019.
Chung was awarded the 2018 NIH New Innovator Award to develop a new approach to a type of kidney disease known as autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, the most commonly inherited kidney disorder.
Chung is a recipient of the SQI-Baxter Early Career Award, the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Postdoctoral Research Grant from the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, and the K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the NIH. She is a member of the Society for Biomaterials, the BMES, and the American Institute for Chemical Engineers.
Recently, Chung’s lab received NIH funding to examine extracellular vesicles as a potential treatment for autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, a rare genetic childhood kidney disease. This will be the first study applying extracellular vesicles therapeutically for polycystic kidney disease.
Chung is also leading an NIH-funded Research Development Core as part of a proposed Northwestern University National Resource Center. The center’s mission is to transform kidney research by applying physical science methods.
Published on November 2nd, 2023
Last updated on November 2nd, 2023