ODU names ED of new bioelectronics center

Old Dominion University has named Gymama Slaughter the founding executive director of its Research Center for Bioelectronics, the university announced Monday.

The new center, which opened July 1, allows ODU to increase its total sponsored research funding, advancing work on new cancer combinational therapy and non-invasive cancer diagnostic tools. It also helps the university’s research community connect with business, education and government partners.

Slaughter, an electrical and computer engineering associate professor at ODU, will lead the center in its efforts to provide educational accessibility for predoctoral students to pursue biomedical research careers. She is also director of the National Institutes of Health’s Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (G-RISE) at ODU. Slaughter has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and received grant awards of more than $6.5 million. She is also associate editor of the IEEE Sensors Journal, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and previously served as head of the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics, which focuses on high-voltage pulse technology to treat cancer.

“Dr. Slaughter is ideally suited to lead this collaborative environment of engineers, scientists and clinicians that will bridge clinical and basic science to enable researchers to pioneer discoveries in tissue engineering, biomaterials, nanotechnology, sensors and biomedicine,” Morris Foster, ODU’s vice president for research, said in a statement. “This new direction in health sciences is being adopted by other research universities and will transform smart human and environmental health with unparalleled opportunities for biomedical device commercialization and entrepreneurship.”

“I am excited about the new center because it will enable enhanced collaboration between scientists, engineers, staff, students, clinicians from EVMS and researchers from the Center for Bioelectrics,” Slaughter said in a statement.