Advancing patient care through research

With his appointment as a professor at the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, AO Research Institute Davos (ARI) Principal Investigator David Eglin, PhD, is the eighth currently employed AO Research Institute Davos scientist to become a professor, further underscoring AO Research Institute Davos’s reputation as a world-class research institute.

As a member of the faculty of technology at University of Twente—a public research university—Eglin will teach and mentor master’s-level biomedical engineering students in the translation of biomaterials research in orthopedics, beginning in autumn 2019. A polymer chemist with extensive expertise in the synthesis and processing of responsive materials, Eglin joined AO Research Institute Davos in 2006. Today, he is principal investigator and leader of the polymers team in AO Research Institute Davos’s Musculoskeletal Regeneration Program and will become program deputy in 2020. Eglin, who has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and holds eight patents, was the 2011 recipient of the European Society for Biomaterials’ Jean Leray Award recognizing outstanding young scientists’ research contributions to the field of biomaterials. The award was won by the AO Research Institute Davos Director Geoff Richards in 2004.

Eglin said he believes that research and teaching are complementary pursuits. “My work at AO Research Institute Davos will benefit my teaching because it allows me to bring our scientific advances as well as the interdisciplinary aspects of the work to the next generation of biomedical engineers” said Eglin, who was a guest lecturer at the University of Twente for five years prior to being appointed professor. “At the same time, it is always interesting to be in touch with the next generation of researchers and AO Research Institute Davos will gain access to a pool of young, motivated biomedical engineers. Additionally, the research collaboration between AO Research Institute Davos and the University of Twente will be strengthened.”

AO Research Institute Davos Director Geoff Richards added that Eglin’s appointment further demonstrates AO Research Institute Davos’s credibility as the academic backbone of the AO Foundation.

“When I came to AO Research Institute Davos in 1991, there were just two professors in the institute—Prof Stephan Perren and Prof Berton Rahn—and now we have eight based here. These are not honorary titles: Earning a professorship entails as many as seven levels of evaluation” Richards explained. “The number of professors in AO Research Institute Davos demonstrates our credibility as a world-class research institute.”