The 2014-15 recruiting season brought a huge win for ChemE with the hiring of Dr. Elizabeth Nance who started in the Fall as the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering. Elizabeth earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, working under the guidance of Justin Hanes. For the past two years, she was a Hartwell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow (10 granted in the U.S.) in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Nance is a recipient of the highly competitive Burroughs Wellcome Career Award and was recently named one of the 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 in Science and Medicine as one of the "most disruptive, game-changing and innovating young personalities in science."
Dr. Nance's research focuses on engineering nanoparticles, both as biophysical probes and imaging biomarkers, to understand disease physiology and pathology in the central nervous system (CNS). She uses this knowledge to better design and implement therapeutic nanoparticle platforms in clinically relevant models of pediatric and adult CNS diseases. Elizabeth developed the first nanoparticles that could both penetrate and move within the brain, to improve imaging and treatment of brain ailments such as cancer, autism, stroke and cerebral palsy. Her interdisciplinary background lies at the interface of engineering, neurosciences and translational medicine, and she is an extensive collaborator in the neurosurgery, pediatric neurology, pathology and critical care fields. She holds two patents for nanotechnology uses in the brain and has 12 publications in leading journals including Science Translational Medicine, Journal of Controlled Release, and ACS Nano.
“Prof. Nance takes a game changing approach to nanomedicine by putting the disease front and center and by learning about transport idiosyncracies in the brain to design nanotherapies that work,” says Matthaei Professor and Chair François Baneyx. “She is a top scholar who will deepen our ties with Bioengineering and the School of Medicine and who will help further enhance UW ChemE’s reputation in translational and regenerative medicine.”
“In the short time I’ve been here, the University of Washington and ChemE department already feels like home,” says Dr. Nance. “I’m excited to grow my research program focused on disease-directed engineering, and take advantage of the breadth and depth of expertise and collaborations the UW has to offer.”
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Elizabeth Nance.