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December 1, 2006 Vol. 77,
no. 15F
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| INSPIRATIONAL: Tejal
Desai (Ph.D.’98 BioE) is the College’s Outstanding Young Leader
for 2006.
ELISABETH FALL PHOTO
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Outstanding, and then some
Tejal
Desai receives College’s
top young alumni award
What will you accomplish by the time you’re 34?
Meet 34-year-old Tejal Desai (Ph.D.’98 BioE), and this is her
list: She earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering, and as a Ph.D. student,
developed a micro-chip (now in production by a private company) that
can be implanted in the pancreas of a patient to facilitate insulin
production and control diabetes. She’s published over 90 technical
papers and was named one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant
10 Scientists” and one of MIT Technology Review’s “100
Top Young Innovators.” She received a National Science Foundation
CAREER Award and a National Academy of Sciences Frontiers in Engineering
Award. She holds professorships at UCSF in physiology, bioengineering
and, oh yes, biophysics and is director of her own 12-person research
lab. Last, but certainly not least, she is mom to two children under
three. Oh, and she’s the College’s newest recipient of
its Outstanding Young Leader award.
On November 18, Dean Richard Newton presented Desai with the award
at the 2006 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards ceremony held
at Hearst Memorial Mining Building. “Tejal is a terrific engineer,” wrote
BioE assistant professor Kimmen Sjolander in her nomination.“Her
innovations will change the way we treat illness and will improve the
quality of life for all of us.”
In high school, Desai saw a presentation on hip implants, and it was
that small event that inspired her to try the brand-new field of bioengineering
as a college student. “I liked engineering better than medicine,
but I wanted to be in something where you could really make a difference,” she
says. “Bioengineering could marry those. It was perfect.”
After earning her bachelor’s degree back east, she came to Berkeley
as a doctoral student working under Professor Mauro Ferrari. Ferrari
told Popular Science magazine that she asked him to assign her his
toughest project: Develop a device you can implant in the nation’s
18.2 million diabetics that will regulate their blood sugar levels
without the need for daily insulin injections. After four years of
grueling work and warnings from colleagues that she’d never graduate,
Desai developed a microfabricated chip that worked in rats.
“Don’t ever be dissuaded from your path,” she advises. “Graduate
school is a challenge, and there are ups and downs. But if you can
see where you want to be in five or 10 years, that vision will get
you there. It will keep things in perspective.”
Today, Desai is working on new projects, like tissue engineering blood
vessels and developing a nanodevice that can be swallowed by a patient.
The device attaches to the stomach lining and releases medication at
proper intervals, eliminating the need for people to remember to take
their pills.
These new technologies alone promise to improve people’s lives,
but Desai doesn’t stop there. She volunteers in San Francisco
public schools, in hopes of inspiring the next generation of bioengineers.
Read more about Desai at www.bioengineering.ucsf.edu/faculty-tejal_desai.vp.html
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