Allen and Constance Ford established the Ford Visiting Professor Program at Case Western Reserve University to enhance and highlight the programming of the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). The department is regularly ranked among the nation’s top biomedical engineering programs by U.S. News and World Report.
The Ford Visiting Professor Program at Case Western Reserve has enabled BME to bring to campus—to our students, faculty and university community—scientists and business leaders on the cutting edge of biomedical engineering and related sciences.
Allen Ford has been a member of Case Western Reserve University’s Board of Trustees since 1976, serving as vice chair from 1985 to 1987 and chair from 1987 to 1992. He earned an MS in engineering administration from Case Institute of Technology in 1964, and received the University Medal, Case Western Reserve’s highest honor, in 1994. His late wife, Constance Ford, received an MA degree from Western Reserve University in 1953.
Previous Speakers
September 19, 2022: "How Technology is disrupting healthcare and driving a new standard of care."
- Geoff Martha
Chairman & Ceo
Medtronic
November 6, 2019
- Richard Ellson (CIT '84, GRS '86)
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Labcyte
September 6, 2018: "Innovate, Invent, Disrupt: The Importance of Medical Technology in Transforming Healthcare for the Future"
- Omar Ishrak
Chairman and CEO, Medtronic
October 17, 2017: "Need to Succeed: The Surprising Power of Needs-Driven Health Technology and Innovation"
- Paul Yock
Director of Stanford Biodesign - Michael Ackermann
Executive Chairman of Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
November 3, 2016: "Commercializing Medical Innovation: the Challenges and Opportunities"
- Carla Mann Woods
CEO of Mann Healthcare Partners
October 26, 2015: "Forward Thinking: How Biomedical Engineering Can Positively Impact Health and Health Care"
- Robert Kirsch
Chair of Biomedical Engineering
Translational Research at Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering - Anant Madabhushi
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Big Data and Precision Medicine - Mark Griswold
Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering
Medical Imaging and Visualization - Nicole Steinmetz
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Nanomedicine and Immunotherapy - Cameron McIntyre
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Neuromodulation - Stephen Fening
Director of the Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership
November 13, 2014: “The Engineering of Invention and the Evolving Health Care Environment: Tying Innovation to Economic Value”
- Michael J. Coyle
Executive Vice President and Group President
Cardiac and Vascular Group
Medtronic
October 13, 2013: “Optical Deconstruction of Fully Assembled Biological Systems”
- Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD
D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering
and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
March 6, 2013: “The Human Connectome Project: Progress and Prospects”
- David Van Essen, PhD
Alumni Endowed Professor
Anatomy and Neurobiology
Neurosciences Program
Washington University
September 27, 2012: "Revolutionizing the Field of Medicine through Advances in Nanotechnology"
- Chad Mirkin, PhD
Professor of Chemistry,
International Institute for Nanotechnology
Northwestern University
February 18, 2012: “Be. Feel. Live. A New Perspective on our Role in Human Health”
- Nicholas Valeriani, MBA
Company Group Chairman
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
Part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies
November 2, 2011: “Magnetic Resonance Microscopy”
- G. Allan Johnson, PhD
Director, Center for In Vivo Microscopy
Charles E. Putnam University Professor
Duke University
April 11, 2011: “Programming Cells In Situ with Polymers”
- David Mooney, PhD
Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering
Harvard University
October 25, 2010: “Making Drugs out of siRNAs”
- Muthiah Manoharan
Senior vice president of Drug Discovery
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
April 22, 2010: “The Practical Uses of Immortality: The Confluence of Pluripotency and Tissue Engineering”
- Michael West, PhD
CEO, BioTime Inc. and Embryome Inc
October 22, 2009
- Bill Hawkins
CEO, Medtronic
March 31, 2009: “Hierarchical Temporal Memory: How a Theory of the Neocortex May Lead to Truly Intelligent Machines”
- Jeff Hawkins
Co-founder of Palm and Handspring
Author, On Intelligence
November 4, 2008: “A revolution in neuro-therapeutics: Brain plasticity-based strategies targeting neurological and psychiatric illness”
- Michael Merzenich, PhD
Professor of the School of Medicine
Otolaryngology Department
University of California, San Francisco
November 1, 2007: “The Genomic Revolution and the Future of Medicine and Health”
- Rick Klausner, MD
Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer
Illumina
April 5, 2007: “Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: Progress and Future Perspectives”
- Robert Langer, ScD
David H. Koch Institute Professor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
November 6, 2006
- Thomas J. Meade, PhD
Professor, Department of Chemistry
Northwestern University
April 12, 2006
- Caroline A. Kovac, PhD
General Manager, Healthcare and Lifesciences
IBM
October 14, 2005
- Dean Kamen
March 15, 2005
- Martha Gray, PhD
J. W. Kieckhefer Professor of Medical and Electrical Engineering, HST, EECS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology