Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Director, Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering

Research Interests

• Engineering functional tissues for use in regenerative medicine.

Education

• PhD University of Belgrade, Chemical Engineering

Contact Information

• Tel: 212-305-2304
• Email: gv2131@columbia.edu

Gordana obtained a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering at the University of Belgrade, in her homeland of Serbia. She stayed there as a faculty, raising in the ranks from an Assistant Professor to a regular Professor. Upon moving to the USA, Gordana spent twelve years at the Harvard-MIT Division for Health Sciences and Technology. As a Fulbright Fellow, she became fascinated by the concept of tissue engineering, and emerging technologies for improving and saving human life. She then joined Columbia University in 2005, where her laboratory hosts the Bioreactor Core of the NIH Center for Tissue Engineering.
Gordana's research has been focused on engineering functional tissues for use as models of diseases, in regenerative medicine and studies of stem cells. Gordana published 2 books, 40 book chapters, over 200 peer-reviewed articles and has over 30 issued or pending patents. She is a frequent advisor to government organizations on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and the chair of her NIH study section. Gordana is serving on editorial boards of six scientific journals, and on numerous advisory boards and councils.
In 2002, she was elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
In 2007, she gave the Director's lecture at the NIH, as the first woman engineer to receive this distinction.
In 2008, she was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame "for developing biological substitutes to restore, maintain or improve tissue function".
In 2009, she was elected to the New York Academy of Sciences.