UW Bioengineering Assistant Professor Barry Lutz is the recipient of the Pilcher Term Faculty Fellowship. This award, funded by inventor and entrepreneur Ken Pilcher, will support Dr. Lutz’s research for a 3-year term.
The fellowship enhances the University of Washington’s ability to recruit and retain distinguished faculty in the Department of Bioengineering who demonstrate outstanding potential for scholarly and professional contributions to the field of bioengineering and a commitment to biomedical innovation and commercialization. Specifically, this fellowship supports faculty who are dedicated to finding creative biomedical research solutions to unmet societal challenges and developing devices with the purpose of serving the greater good.
Dr. Lutz was appointed tenure-track assistant professor of bioengineering in September 2014. His research pursues affordable diagnostic devices simple enough for untrained users to use in the home, the developing world and other limited resource settings. He also leads commercialization-driven projects to develop improved technologies to treat neurologic disorders that improve patients’ quality of life and reduce health care costs. He is the recipient of many awards recognizing his contributions to biomedical research and innovation, including the UW Business Plan Best Technology Award and American Vacuum Society Young Investigator Award. Read more about the recent appointment of Barry Lutz, his research and background.
Ken Pilcher is the lead inventor of the Clarisonic Skin Care System. He has over 30 years of product development experience including oral care products, medical electronics and space-based data acquisition and avionics for the NASA Space Shuttle. Prior to leading development of the Clarisonic, Ken was director of research and development for Optiva Corporation, maker of the Sonicare toothbrush.