Allbritton leaving Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Nancy Allbritton, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, will step down from her position as chair of the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) on Oct. 31.

Allbritton has accepted the position of dean of the College Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. She will begin her appointment on Nov. 1.

The Joint Department intends to appoint an interim chair shortly and begin the process of finding Allbritton’s permanent replacement.

“We would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to Nancy on this well-deserved promotion and we wish her great success in her new position,” a joint statement by leaders from both NC State and UNC read. “We also thank Nancy for her stellar efforts in chairing the Joint BME department.”

Allbritton has held faculty appointments at UNC in the departments of Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applied Physical Sciences, and a faculty appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State. She joined UNC in 2007 after 13 years on the faculty at UC, Irvine, and became chair of the Joint Department in 2009.

As BME chair, Allbritton oversaw efforts that led to a truly joint undergraduate BME program between the two universities. During her tenure, BME departmental spaces were consolidated on their respective campuses, 32 new faculty members were hired and endowed professorships were increased from zero to six, among other achievements.

“Dr. Allbritton’s unique qualifications came to our attention as the result of an international search to find a leader prepared to take the UW College of Engineering to the next level of academic excellence, interdisciplinary innovation and public service,” University of Washington Provost Mark Richards said in a statement. “We could not be more pleased that she is joining the UW team, and we look forward, in particular, to her leadership in bridging the engineering and health sciences disciplines. This is a big win for the UW.”

Allbritton’s research focuses on biomedical microdevices, pharmacoengineering, cell signaling and microfabricated systems. She is the founder of three companies.

She holds a B.S. in physics from Louisiana State University, an M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in medical physics/medical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.