Ameer named to National Academy of Medicine

SQI member Guillermo Ameer has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

According to his election citation, Ameer was selected “for pioneering contributions to regenerative engineering and medicine through the development, dissemination, and translation of citrate-based biomaterials, a new class of biodegradable polymers that enabled the commercialization of innovative medical devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in a variety of surgical procedures.”

The citation references Ameer’s work with a biomaterial technology called CITREGEN™ that is featured in a tendon fixation device used in musculoskeletal surgeries. The technology, the first thermoset biodegradable synthetic polymer ever used in implantable medical devices, contains unique chemical and mechanical properties that help grafted tissue heal.

“It is an honor to be recognized at this high level by my colleagues in medicine, healthcare, and health sciences, and it reflects the impact that our work in biomaterials and regenerative engineering is having in research, industry and patient care as per the commercialization of our biomaterial technology and the growth of the regenerative engineering field,” Ameer said in a news release from Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering.

Ameer is the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of Biomedical Engineering in McCormick and a Professor of Surgery in the Feinberg School of Medicine. He is also the founding director of Northwestern’s Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering.