PROFILE PETER DAVIES: Davies excited about directing new interdisciplinary institute

A joint committee considered many applicants for the job of director of the Institute for Medicine and Engineering. And when it finished deliberating, Peter Davies was the top choice. He accepted. Davies will arrive at the University next fall to head the institute, a joint effort between the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Medical School. Davies, currently a professor of pathology at the University of Chicago, said he looks forward to directing the program, which will be housed in the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, now under construction on Smith Walk. "It was a relatively easy decision," he said. "I'm excited at the challenge of establishing the institute." Davies said the overall interdisciplinary attitude of the program will mirror his own work in pathology, the study of disease. "In pathology, you are not as constrained by classical disciplines as you are in biochemistry or physics," he explained. "You resolve problems using many tools in many disciplines." While the IME will initially cater to graduate students, Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington said he hopes to quickly institute an undergraduate program. In the meantime, Davies will be involved in selecting the faculty for the program. "My job is to identify the best faculty and recruit them into the institute," he said. Davies will choose the staff in conjunction with the chairpersons from their home departments. "Everyone will have a home department," Davies said, adding that these departments include pathology, bioengineering, rehabilitative medicine and emergency medicine. Davies's vision for the program incorporates two different types of research: hypothesis-driven fundamental research and mission-driven research. The former involves fundamental knowledge of a subject, while the latter attempts to solve specific problems, he explained. Davies's career has centered around diseases affecting the circulatory system. He is an authority on endothelium cells, which are cells that form the lining of blood vessels and are involved in atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of nearly all heart disease. Davies earned his doctorate at Cambridge University, which he followed up with post-doctorate work at the University of Washington. He was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the staff at the University of Chicago.

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