Rowan names research AVP

Rowan University has appointed Dr. Arye Rosen, a world-renowned researcher with extensive experience in developing medical devices, as a visiting professor with the title of associate vice president for Biomedical Research Partnerships.

He will be responsible for fostering Rowan’s research initiatives, in part by establishing projects between Rowan’s medical school faculty and physicians and the College of Engineering and by mentoring faculty in career development. Rowan has committed to growing its sponsored research from $25 million to $100 million by 2023, with a strong focus on the intersection of engineering, medicine, technology and business. Rosen will be an integral part of that process.

“As a member of the National Academies, National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Rosen brings to Rowan a substantial background in engineering, research, collaborations and administration,” said Dr. Kenneth Blank, Rowan’s senior vice president for Health Sciences, to whom Rosen reports.

Rosen earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from Howard University, Washington, D.C., while employed at the Embassy of Israel in the Office of the Scientific Counselor. He received an M.S. in engineering from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; an M.Sc. degree in physiology from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia; and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia.

Research leader

His extensive career includes 36 years with the RCA/David Sarnoff Research Center, Princeton, where he rose to the highest technical rank of Distinguished Member of Technical Staff. There he was involved in the research and development of microwave and millimeter wave/THz devices and circuits, microwave optical interaction and high-power semiconductor lasers.

For the past 45 years he also has been engaged in medical research and consulting in the utilization of energies — including laser, acoustic and microwave — for applications in therapeutic medicine. Among the numerous organizations that have funded Rosen’s work, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently supported his and his son’s project on low-cost, battery-run, photovoltaic-driven blue LED blanket therapy for jaundiced newborns in developing countries.

Until this June, he was academy professor of biomedical and electrical engineering in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems at Drexel University. He held that role since 2002, as well as the position of associate vice provost for Strategic Initiatives since 2010.

He also conducted research in the Division of Cardiology at Jefferson Medical College since 1969, and, along with his son (Dr. Harel D. Rosen, a neonatologist and a graduate of Jefferson Medical College) was co-founder of the Medical Technology Center for Infants and Children, St. Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Finding solutions

“I am excited to work with an ambitious university such as Rowan as it builds its research initiatives,” Rosen said. “This is a school that is deeply invested in the education of its students, in the development of solutions to problems that impact the community and to the economy of South Jersey. This is an important time at Rowan — a time of great anticipated growth — and I look forward to contributing to its future.”

Rosen has authored more than 250 technical papers, co-edited two books (“High Power Optically Activated Solid-State Switches” and “New Frontiers in Medical Device Technology”), co-authored the textbook “RF/Microwave Interaction with Biological Tissue” and co-authored eight book chapters in the fields of engineering and medicine. He holds more than 65 U.S. patents in the fields of engineering and medicine.

Health care innovator

The National Academy of Engineering elected him in 2002 "For contributions to microwave and laser technologies and the medical applications of these technologies.” He and collaborator and co-author Dr. Paul Walinsky worked extensively on the subject of the utilization of radio frequency and microwave in medicine, and they were the first to introduce microwave in the treatment of heart dysfunction. Their patents and publications were instrumental in extending the use of microwave balloon systems to the treatment of other organs and influenced the generation of patents by others. Rosen was involved in the early research of echocardiography as a non-invasive technique for the detection of heart dysfunction, the use of light-emitting diodes/lasers for functional near infrared spectroscopy, and photodynamic therapy in cancer treatment.  

He is a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the IEEE MTTS Microwave Career Award, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, an IEEE Microwave Application Award and a Drexel University Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Distinguished Alumni Award.