Jennifer Munson to be inducted into American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows
The biomedical engineer was nominated and elected by her peers for creating new ways to target cancer and brain disease.
Jennifer Munson, a biomedical engineer and associate professor of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the College of Engineering, has been named to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows — a group that comprises the top 2 percent of the nation’s biological and medical engineers.
Jennifer Munson, a biomedical engineer and associate professor of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has been named to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows — a group made up of the top 2 percent of the nation’s biological and medical engineers.
Munson was nominated and elected by her AIMBE peers “for the innovative creation of methods to measure, model, and manipulate interstitial fluid flow to study physiological function and disease.”
“I’m honored by this recognition from the AIMBE, to be nominated and elected by peers whom I respect and look up to is truly a career moment,” said Munson, who is also associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering. “My mission has revolved around pioneering new tools and treatments toward helping people with diseases, including cancer. This honor acknowledges that our work is being recognized as important to the broader field.”
She will be inducted March 25 in Arlington.
Munson studies how fluids flow through the lymphatic system and the small spaces between cells, tissues, and organs of the body. Her work is aimed at finding better ways to diagnose and treat diseases.
For example, by using noninvasive imaging and mathematical modeling to map the movement of fluids and lymph, her research program seeks to more accurately predict where cancer will spread and find ways to optimize treatments.
In a range of work at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute supported by the National Institutes of Health, she is working to improve CAR-T cell therapy to help people fight cancer and examining how amyloid beta proteins accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Munson also co-founded Cairina Inc. to translate her research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute into practical health solutions. The company focuses on providing image analysis, modeling, and visualizations to help treat cancer in patients with aggressive brain tumors.
“Dr. Munson’s induction as a fellow of the AIMBE underscores the high esteem in which she is held by her colleagues at a national level as well as her remarkable efforts to bring innovative solutions to health care problems,” said Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and Virginia Tech vice president for health sciences and technology. “She boldly works across disciplinary boundaries and integrates insights from a variety of domains to create new ways to understand and model cancer that are both scientifically foundational as well as poised to make a real difference in patient’s lives. In addition, her entrepreneurial spirit to start a company and turn these ideas into real-world solutions is exceptional. Her AIMBE honor is well-deserved.”
