On Monday, Rashid Bashir, dean of the Grainger College of Engineering and professor of bioengineering at the University, was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Bashir was nominated to the Academy for “seminal contributions and visionary leadership in micro and nanoscale biosensors and diagnostics, bioengineering for early detection of infection and sepsis, and education in engineering-based medicine by helping to establish the world’s first engineering-based medical school at UIUC.”
The NAM is a private nonprofit institution that was founded in 1970 and selects no more than 100 new members each year to advise the U.S. government on issues of health and medicine.
According to the organization’s website, its mission is to improve the well-being of the nation by advancing science and boosting equity in health care, and its activities include providing objective analysis to the nation, problem-solving the health challenges of today and informing public policy decisions.
NAM membership is reserved for distinguished professionals at the top of their field, and is “considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.” New nominees are selected each year by current members based on major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, the website said.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Bashir’s research focuses on the integration of biology and medicine with engineering and technology.
Bashir is the fifth University faculty member to be elected by the NAM in the last 20 years. He is also a member of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
