Dr. David Magnus is the Director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and is a Thomas A. Raffin Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University. Dr. Magnus serves as President of the American Bioethics Program Directors and as Co-Editor of the American Journal of Bioethics and is widely published on a range of topics, including health care reform, research ethics, end-of-life care, and genetic technology. At human2.0, he will engage the audience in a discussion about the ethical implications of human augmentation and these concerns will influence the trajectory of these fields and technologies in the coming decades.
Sheila Nirenberg is a neuroscientist exploring fundamental questions about how the brain encodes visual information and developing an alternative approach to restoring sight after photoreceptor cell degeneration. Dr. Nirenberg invented a computerized eyeglass prosthetic that transmits the codes to the ganglion cells, which then send the codes to the brain. In another line of research, Dr.Nirenberg is adapting and applying her discoveries in neural coding to machine vision algorithms with the goal of advancing the state of the art in robotic “vision” and brain-machine interfaces. She is currently a professor in Department of Physiology and Biophysics and a member of the Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She has won numerous awards for innovative research, including the MacArthur Fellowship, a Klingenstein Fellowship, a UCLA Frontiers of Science award, a Stein Oppenheimer award, and a Whitehall Foundation award.
Thomas Andriacchi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery at Stanford University, does research focusing on the biomechanics of human locomotion and its biomedical applications to artificial joints, sports injury, osteoarthritis, and neuromuscular disorders. He is a past member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Biomechanics, serves on the Board of Associate Editors for the Journal of Orthopaedic Research. He has also received the Kappa Delta Award, the highest award of the Orthopedic Research Society and the Borelli Award, the highest award of the American Society of Biomechanics.
Conor Walsh is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as well as a Core faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. Walsh is the founder of the Harvard Biodesign Lab, a group that brings together researchers from engineering, industrial design, medical, and business sectors to develop smart medical devices. His research projects focus on wearable robotics to assist disabled and able-bodied people, as well as tools for minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Michael Goldfarb is a professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt and a coinventor of a robot exoskeleton that helps the paralyzed walk again. Using an advanced system of onboard embedded microprocessors and sensors, the exoskeleton is able to adapt to the wearer’s level of muscle control and even electrically enervate muscle in limbs for certain kinds of paralysis. Speaking on behalf of the Goldfarb lab, Dr. Brian Lawson will discuss the technology that allows devices like the exoskeleton (as well as a robotic leg prostheses developed by the Goldfarb lab) to actively interact with a wearer’s actions and closely simulate natural movement.
Michael McAlpine is a professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. A recipient of the DARPA Young Faculty Award and featured this year on CNN 10: Inventions, Dr. McAlpine leads a research group developing bionic nanotechnologies for applications in biomedical and energy sciences. The McAlpine lab works to couple sophisticated electronics with biological tissues with the goal of revolutionizing regenerative medicine and human-machine interfaces, and are also working to create the next generation of bionic nanosensors for applications in diagnostics.
David L. Jaffe, completed his BS degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan and Masters degree in Biomechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Jaffe is the Associate Director of the Alex Tung Memorial Assistive Technology Laboratory, teaches the Perspectives in Assistive Technologies course here at Stanford, and oversees student projects in ME218, “Smart Product Design.” Jaffe’s research interests lie in the use of microcomputer technology in the design and development of rehabilitation devices; for his contributions to the field, Jaffe has been recognized as a RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America) Fellow.
Dr. Michael McLoughlin is the Chief Engineer for Research and Exploratory Development at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He joined the APL at Johns Hopkins almost 30 years ago, and has tremendous experience and expertise both in industry and in academic biomedicine. In addition, he has applied his skill set to other fields, such as homeland security and the military. Dr. McLoughlin is also an instructor in the Whiting School of Engineering at JHU.
