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Dr. Peppas is the Fletcher S. Pratt Chair of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutics at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the leading researcher, inventor and pacesetter in the field of drug delivery and controlled release. He is widely recognized as the father of modern drug delivery. He has set the fundamentals and rational design of drug delivery systems and biomaterials over the past 35 years. He is also an international leader in biomaterials and bionanotechnology, and has contributed seminal work in the field of feedback controlled biomedical devices. His contributions have been translated into more than twenty medical products with multimillion dollar markets. For the profound impact of these theories and analyses, Peppas has been recognized as the most cited and highly published author in drug delivery, biomaterials and drug delivery, and intelligent materials.Peppas originated the novel muco- and bioadhesive systems that interact molecularly with the mucus and tissue and have been able to prolong bioavailability of proteins and peptides in the blood. He was the first to develop novel toxic-free poly(vinyl alcohol) gels. These gels became very successful articular cartilage replacement systems and for in situ replacement of vocal cords, a successful medical procedure. His group pioneered the use of hydrogels in drug delivery applications, including epidermal bioadhesive systems and systems for the release of theophylline, proxyphylline, diltiazem, and oxprenolol. More recently, he has developed new technologies of oral delivery systems for insulin and other proteins. Peppas has also developed feedback control devices, such as glucose-sensitive microsensors that can respond to abnormal glucose levels by releasing incorporated insulin to the blood at desired rates. Such feedback control systems could be perfected for use in treatment of diabetes. As a result of his work, a number of biomedical polymers and commercial delivery devices have been launched.Peppas is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA) and the French Academy of Pharmacy. He is the Chair of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical And Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and has served as President of the Society for Biomaterials and the Controlled Release Society, and Director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, AIMBE, the Society for Biomaterials, the American Physical Society, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), AIChE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. An international ambassador of biomedical engineering, he has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Ghent (Belgium), Parma (Italy), and Athens (Greece) and has been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Geneva, Paris (Orsay), Parma, Pavia, Naples, Berlin (Free University), Santiago de Compostela, Complutense (Madrid), Hoshi (Tokyo), Hacettepe (Ankara), Athens, Hebrew (Jerusalem) and Nanyang University (Singapore).He has published more than 1000 refereed publications, 350 proceedings and 450 abstracts, and is the inventor of 35 US and international patents. He is the coauthor or coeditor of 31 books and volumes, including the classic Hydrogels in Medicine and Pharmacy, a standard reference in the field of biomaterials, and of two pioneering monographs on bionanotechnology that appeared in the past five years. He has served in numerous US government panels of NSF, NIH and other Federal Agencies. Among others he serves in the Nanotechnology Technical Advisory Group of the President. In addition he has served as a member of the Advisory Boards of eleven companies and as a consultant of more than 60 companies, law firms and brokerage firms.He has been recognized by more than 100 international awards. These include the highest research recognitions from the Society for Biomaterials (the Founders Award for life time contributions and the Clemson Award for Basic Research), the highest research recognitions from AIChE (the William Walker Award and the Jay Bailey Biological Award along with three other major AIChE awards), the highest recognitions of the AAPS (the Dale E. Wurster Award in Pharmaceutics, and the Research Achievement Award in Pharmaceutical Technology), the highest scientific recognitions of the Controlled Release Society (the Founders Award and the Eurand Award for Outstanding Contributions in Oral Drug Delivery), and the Newsmaker of the Year Award of the American Chemical Society. | 