Stephen Boppart, MD, PhD, joins the Carle Illinois College of Medicine as interim executive associate dean and chief diversity officer, effective December 16, 2018. Boppart will serve as the second-in-command at the engineering-based medical school. He is charged with strategically developing the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s first college of medicine into a global leader in engineering and technology-based medical education and healthcare delivery research.
“As a renowned engineering scholar and innovator, Stephen Boppart is exceptionally and uniquely qualified to serve in this important role,” said King Li, dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. “We are especially grateful he will help us continue enhancing the partnership between Carle Illinois and the College of Engineering.”
Boppart’s dual-degree training in both medical and electrical engineering, and medicine from MIT and Harvard, coupled with his nearly 19 years of experience building connections between engineering and medicine, provide him with the unique perspective and necessary experience for the continuing development of the first engineering-based college of medicine. Professor Boppart’s work as a faculty member and administrative leader in the College of Engineering at Illinois, founding director of the Mills Breast Cancer Institute at Carle, his innovations and leadership in medical research and medical technology initiatives, his entrepreneurial activities founding multiple biomedical imaging companies, and his roles as an inaugural faculty member and leader at Carle Illinois position him to make substantial contributions to the college of medicine academically, scientifically and organizationally.
“Our Carle Illinois College of Medicine—its faculty, students, and staff across campus—share a common vision that ideas and innovations can change the world. Illinois is known for this,” said Boppart. “With a focus on improving the lives of patients and the health of our communities globally, I can think of no greater use for our engineering knowledge and our technological innovations. I look forward to working together with so many talented colleagues to educate and train future generations of physician-innovators to think creatively and boldly, and address the major challenges we face in medicine,” Boppart said.
Boppart currently serves in many roles at Illinois, Carle and beyond including Director of the Center for Optical Molecular Imaging, Co-Chair of the Integrative Imaging major research theme at the Beckman Institute, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Diagnostic Photonics, Inc., PhotoniCare, Inc., and LiveBx, LLC, Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering, Clinical Professor, and Research Scientist at Carle Foundation Hospital. Boppart received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Illinois in Electrical Engineering, his PhD in Medical and Electrical Engineering from MIT, and his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine through the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
The Carle Illinois College of Medicine is the first college of medicine in the nation specifically designed at the intersection of engineering and medicine. A partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health System, the college integrates the university’s unparalleled assets in engineering, technology and supercomputing with Carle’s nationally recognized, comprehensive health care system.