“The first 25 years of biomedical engineering at Purdue and the students and staff that made it happen”
Charles F. Babbs, MD, PhD
Dr. Charles F. Babbs, MD, PhD
Continuing Lecturer, BME and  Associate Research Scholar, Basic Medical Sciences
This talk features a few highlights from the first 25 years of biomedical engineering at Purdue, especially the efforts of graduate students and staff at Purdue’s Biomedical Engineering Center, under the leadership of Leslie A. Geddes. Our team worked like beavers to make the world a better place. Innovation happened all the time, including the first pulse oximeter, by Mary Lee Evans, the first smart watch by Barrett Robinson, Jim Jones, and Kirk Foster, the first esophageal ultrasound scanner by David Hughes and Neal Fearnot, the world’s largest defibrillator, by Joe Bourland and Jim Jones, and the first computer-based, automated, telephonic system for home monitoring of patients by Umesh Patel. Some discoveries of those early days remain undeveloped and might well be winning research targets here in the 21st Century. These include an inspiration triggered home oxygen delivery system to save half the oxygen used today with greater comfort by Phil Krause and the use of radiofrequency current and vasodilator drugs to heat and kill large tumors without damage to surrounding normal tissues by Bill Voorhees.
Bio: Dr. Babbs is an MD, PhD biomedical engineer, educated at Yale, Baylor College of Medicine and Purdue University. He is a founding member of Purdue’s Biomedical Engineering Center, starting in 1974 and continuing at Purdue to the present day. He has received multiple teaching awards for courses in medicine, physiology, and mathematical modeling, both at Indiana University School of Medicine and Purdue University, as well as being the 2006 Lafayette area girls high school coach of the year in soccer.His published research reports and patents have been cited over 14, 000 times according to Google Scholar. Charles has served as an advisory board member for several startup companies, both successful and unsuccessful. He has a variety of patents as a Purdue employee and is one of Purdue’s top 10 producers of royalty income.BME DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES
Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024
9:30-10:20 am, MJIS 1001
ZOOM LINK: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/5593290378?omn=91337572863
*Students registered for the seminar are expected to attend in-person