Kiruba Haran

Kiruba Haran

Eight faculty from The Grainger College of Engineering have joined Carle Illinois College of Medicine with Health Innovation Professor appointments, including Illinois ECE professors Kiruba Haran and Michael Oelze. The new faculty deliver on Carle Illinois’ strategy to leverage the University of Illinois’ exceptional faculty to serve as agents of change in medical education, innovation, and research at the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine.

“As champions of interdisciplinary health research, the new professors will advance the discovery and translation of breakthrough health innovations that have the potential to improve patient care and outcomes,” said King Li, Dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. “They will help to pioneer new approaches to medical education and integrate health innovation concepts into graduate and undergraduate courses across the UIUC campus.”

The new Health Innovation faculty represent a range of engineering disciplines and are positioned to be drivers of innovation in medicine and healthcare, which will fuel health-related funding from government agencies, industry, foundations, and individuals, and inspire a range of new cause-based philanthropic giving campaigns.
“Carle Illinois Health Innovation Professors recognize the value of translating new ideas to innovations and to impact, and several are founders of new biotech, medical device, and digital health companies. They will help Carle Illinois to fill the Research Park and the envisioned Health Innovation Translator facility, fulfill the vision of the Discovery Partners Institute, and promote economic prosperity throughout Illinois,” said Illinois ECE Professor Stephen Allen Boppart, Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering and Carle Illinois’ Executive Associate Dean and Chief Diversity Officer.

Haran’s research focuses on electric transportation, electrical machines and drive systems, and power and energy systems. His research group is focused on electro-mechanical energy conversion technologies, with new interests in how these can be applied to medical devices and medical technologies.

Excerpted from an article by Ryann Monahan, Carle Illinois College of Medicine.