Pioneer Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D., expertly manipulates a cell’s environment to change its behavior and function. In the health context, it uses cells to regenerate damaged tissue or to build disease models for drug development. He said his passion was always medicine, but he also had an interest in engineering because he grew up watching his father, an engineer, and loved listening to him talk about his work.
Now, Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic is a university professor, Columbia University’s highest academic rank, and the first Columbia engineer to receive this distinction. She is also the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences, and a professor at the School of Dental Medicine, the Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Center for Human Development. He directs Columbia’s Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, which focuses on engineering human tissues for regenerative medicine and the study of disease.
Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Belgrade in Serbia, where she was a faculty member until 1993. “When I started my research program in Belgrade, regenerative medicine didn’t even exist. I wasn’t stimulated by my research and I knew I needed a change,” she said. Her department encouraged her to find research that appealed to her, so she applied for a Fulbright scholarship, seeking inspiration to pursue a new and exciting field of research. He received a Fulbright Scholarship at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study a new biotechnological method that produced drugs.
As a Fulbright scholar in Boston, in what she described as a serendipitous event, she met renowned scientist Robert S. Langer, Sc.D. Dr. Langer is a pioneer in non-invasive controlled-release drug delivery systems and is considered the founder of the field of tissue engineering. He has been a fellow at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) for more than ten years.
He returned to Belgrade after the one-year fellowship ended, but had to travel back to MIT three or four times a year to continue his work with Dr. Langer. On one of her trips, he asked her to consider another sabbatical because he was about to begin research in a new field called tissue engineering. “Handkerchief what?” she responded. I had never heard those two words in the same sentence. “The moment I learned what tissue engineering meant, I knew this was the perfect research for me. At the time, I had no idea that my background in chemical engineering would lay the foundation for building bioreactors, which became my niche.” With the creation of tissue engineering he was able to effectively combine his two passions: engineering and medicine.
As a pioneer in the field of bioreactors, Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic directs the NIBIB-funded Columbia Tissue Engineering Resource Center. Since 2008, he has been awarded numerous NIBIB scholarships. She was the first engineer to deliver the prestigious Director’s Lecture at the National Institutes of Health. Throughout her career, she has published 400 scientific articles and 70 book chapters and is the author of three books on tissue engineering. Surprisingly, her impact factor of 120 has made her one of the most cited scientists of all time in any discipline. Her hard work and accomplishments have led to four companies that will help her translate her research into practical technologies. The impact of his research is also seen in his elections to the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the Academia Europaea, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
When asked about her most significant professional contribution, she quickly responded: “My students. As a mentor, my greatest reward and impact is training the next generation of scientists. My former mentees have successful labs and students, or non-academic careers. Mentors are only as good as those they train.” As an advisor, one of her goals was to challenge her students to think critically, dream big, and do something they are passionate about, as these are vital ingredients in any career.
She attributed her successful career to her efforts to collaborate with other researchers, another lesson she works to instill in her scholars. “I work a lot with doctors and scientists from other disciplines. Many different disciplines converge in tissue engineering, and in my work it has been crucial to get out of my comfort zone and benefit from completely new concepts and perspectives,” he explained. Several of Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic’s trainees have continued their academic research in leadership positions at their companies.
“When my students move from the lab to my company, they have a deep interest in the company and the technology they have developed while working on their thesis projects. Their passion and drive increase our chances of success.”
When asked about her perception of the evolution of women in science, she stated: “I am delighted to witness first-hand the growing number of women in science and engineering.” She remembered when it was common for her to be the only woman in the room when she first entered academia. She is now surrounded by other women in leadership positions and hopes to continue supporting women in science and engineering. “Women have a lot to contribute in leadership positions, and many institutions have made a serious effort to fill high-level positions with women,” she observed.
“However, the leaky pipeline still exists, especially after graduate work,” Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic said. She maintains that it is crucial to continue ongoing efforts to recruit and retain women in the fields of science and engineering. “Women need to be encouraged to take on serious roles and not worry about being disadvantaged because of their gender. At times, she felt challenged in her career, but never disadvantaged because she was a woman. However, she felt there was more pressure as a woman raising her family in academia. Many people asked her why she didn’t choose a humanities degree instead of chemical engineering. “It’s important not to focus on questions like that. “Be comfortable being different,” she said.
She believes the most important thing is to follow your true passion and find strong role models along the way. She advised future female scientists and engineers: “Don’t be afraid to be persistent and stubborn. Continue to dream big because big ideas are transformative.”
