Visiting bioengineering professor talks about treating the heart
Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering (VISE) brought Karen Christman, Ph.D., professor of bioengineering and associate dean for students, UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering, to Vanderbilt for a two-day visit. While on campus, Professor Christman met with various members of the engineering department, participated in a mentoring luncheon, and concluded her visit by leading the VISE seminar series. Her talk was titled “Biomaterials for Treating the Heart.”
The Graduate Student Women’s Mentoring Luncheon was attended by six biomedical graduate students and one electrical engineering and computer science graduate student. The women shared their research projects and asked questions of the professor over lunch.
When asked about the process to determine the projects in a new lab, Christman suggested that reading papers and attending talks offer opportunity for new ideas.
Christman shared her thoughts about how engineers can talk with clinicians and physicians. “Take classes that expose you to that terminology and that way of thinking,” she said. “Do it while you’re a student, and start talking with physicians now.” She went on to say that the ability to describe your research to physicians is important, as well as finding someone who is interested in your work.
Christman also talked about early mentors, her thoughts on working in academia versus industry and the importance of having interests outside the laboratory. She shared that one idea for a new project came to her while swimming.