Contrary to what some erroneously believe, Black people absolutely do science, research and all things STEM.
Case in point: Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D., FAHA, the endowed Robert A. Welch Professor of Medicine, and former inaugural dean of the School of Engineering Medicine at Texas A&M University in Houston, will be recognized with the 2024 Research Achievement Award at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2024.
The meeting took place Nov. 16-18, 2024, in Chicago. It was the scene of a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science. His award was presented during the Presidential Session on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.
TEXAS A&M’S ENGINEERING MEDICINE PROGRAM
Pettigrew was recently appointed vice chancellor for health and strategic initiatives for the statewide Texas A&M University System, and he continues to serve as the chief executive officer of engineering health for Texas A&M in Houston.
Before becoming the inaugural dean of the School of Engineering Medicine and the vice chancellor in June 2024, he led the creation of Texas A&M’s unique ENMED (Engineering Medicine) program and served as executive dean.
“It’s my privilege to present Dr. Roderic Pettigrew with the 2024 Research Achievement Award,” said Keith Churchwell, M.D., FAHA, American Heart Association 2024-2025 volunteer president, associate clinical professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and adjunct associate professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. “The type of research Roderic is conducting takes ideas that only seemed to exist in science fiction and makes them a reality. The potential for these new biomedical inventions to help people maintain good health longer and his role merging engineering and medicine will help lead to advancements that shape the future of medicine.”
PROBLEM SOLVER
Pettigrew’s career as a physician, scientist, and engineer has a common theme of advancing medical technology as a means to solve problems, and throughout his career, he has a long track record of being at the forefront of programs combining medicine and engineering.
From 1983-1985, he was a clinical research scientist at Picker International, the first manufacturer of MRI systems. At a time when obtaining MR images of non-moving organs such as the brain, spine, and extremities was challenging, Pettigrew pursued what was more difficult — the development of MRI technologies to take images of the beating heart.
He helped write and then installed the cardiovascular software for the first 10 Picker systems sited worldwide.
Then, Pettigrew joined Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology as a professor of radiology, medicine (cardiology), and bioengineering. He led the Emory Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, which focused on noninvasive cardiovascular imaging.
In addition, he led a team of researchers to build the tools for quantitative, four-dimensional imaging of the heart and blood flow within the thoracic cavity — a visionary approach that took 20 years of continued development in computing power to make it into routine clinical practice.
In 2002, Dr. Pettigrew was recruited to be the founding director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health, the only NIH institute created at the nexus of the physical sciences, life sciences and engineering. As its founding director, he focused the NIBIB on emerging biomedical technologies and imaging innovations to catalyze discovery and technological advances to improve human health.
For example, under his leadership, the NIBIB was an early co-founder of the Jackson Heart Study with a sub-study on cardiovascular imaging. At the NIH, his research focused on imaging and predictive modeling of atherosclerotic disease. Recently, he co-edited the first comprehensive text, Biomechanics of Atherosclerotic Plaque: From Model to Patient. He continues to push the envelope on vascular cell aging and further our understanding of endothelial cell mechanosensing and is currently pursuing non-invasive, high-resolution vascular wall imaging.
Dr. Pettigrew subsequently joined Texas A&M University and created the School of Engineering Medicine (ENMED), where students simultaneously earn medical degrees and master’s degrees in engineering in only four years.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the Association for my career at the interface of the physical and life sciences and engineering with a personal focus on cardiovascular disease,” said Pettigrew. “The driving vision is one of breakthroughs to help us all maintain well-being for the entirety of our lives, and thus die healthy. Now we have a realistic expectation of accelerated transformations and medical disruptions through the convergence of traditionally distinct but synergistic disciplines that are, as Einstein put it, ’branches of the same tree. Fusing these in our understanding, imaginative thinking, and pursuit of impactful innovations promises more rapid creations that will make great differences. Imagine, for example, the elimination of stroke and the elimination of heart attacks. With focused intention, such aspirations could be achieved through this transdisciplinary approach.”
