Bruce Tromberg, PhD
Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Plenary | Saturday, April 30, 2022 | 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM PT
Dr. Bruce Tromberg oversees a portfolio of research programs at NIBIB, focused on developing, translating, and commercializing engineering, physical science, and computational technologies in Biology and Medicine. In addition, he leads NIBIB’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx Tech) innovation initiative to increase SARS-COV-2 testing capacity and performance.
Presentation Title: NIBIB and the pandemic response: New opportunities for accelerating innovation from in vitro diagnostics to medical imaging
Presentation Summary: Dr. Tromberg will share the role NIBIB plays in establishing interdisciplinary partnerships and teams to accelerate technology development and commercialization. With the emergence of COVID-19, special congressional appropriations more than doubled the NIBIB budget (FY20/21), providing an unexpected opportunity to leverage NIBIB networks in support of the national pandemic response. The societal and economic impact of NIBIB investments in urgently needed COVID-19 technologies spanning from Medical Imaging to In Vitro Diagnostics will be described. These accomplishments highlight how non-traditional funding mechanisms, such as NIBIB’s RADx Tech program, can drive innovation with unprecedented speed and impact.