Mark S. Humayun has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Class of 2011.
Humayun, professor of ophthalmology, cell and neurobiology and biomedical engineering, holds joint appointments at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the Doheny Eye Institute, and USC Viterbi School of Engineering. His research focuses on the treatment of eye diseases through engineering prosthetics. He is a co-inventor of a revolutionary electronic retinal prosthesis called the Argus II, funded by the Department of Energy. This implantable artificial device has enabled blind individuals to perceive light and shapes.
Humayun is among 35 academics elected this year. The 2011 class consists of a total of 68 members.
“This is an incredible honor for Dr. Humayun, whose achievements in ophthalmology and engineering may someday make it possible for the blind to see again,” said Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A. “This recognition of his groundbreaking work is well-deserved.”
Humayun was named to the NAE along with Aristides A.G. Requicha, Ph.D., a computer scientist, electrical engineer, and the Gordon S. Marshall Professor of Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
Membership in the academy is the highest professional distinction that can be accorded an engineer. Members are elected to the academy by their peers for having distinguished themselves in research, technical positions and leadership in industry, government and academia.
This is the third time since 2008 that two of the school’s faculty have been elected in the same cycle, placing the school among only a handful of academic institutions (only six in this year’s elections) with such a distinction.
Humayun directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center on Bio-Mimetic Electronics Systems at USC. He is also a member of several societies, including the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO); American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS); the Macula and the Retina Societies; and the IEEE Biomedical Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society. Humayun was voted one of the Best Doctors in America for three consecutive years. He is an elected member of the international Club Jules Gonin Society. He holds 18 patents and has nearly 90 pending. Humayun is the recipient of many awards, including the Innovator of the Year and Editor’s Choice awards of R&D Magazine, presented to only a small number of innovators. His team’s Argus II retinal implant won a 2010 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award.
He also is the inaugural holder of the Cornelius J. Pings Chair of Biomedical Sciences at USC and is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine.
Humayun received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, his medical degree from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of North Carolina. After an ophthalmology residency at the Duke Eye Center, he completed fellowships in both retinovascular and vitreoretinal surgery at the Wilmer Institute of Johns Hopkins University, before joining USC in 2001.