Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, PhD, will step down this month from his position as director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), according to a statement issued by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Pettigrew will assume two leadership positions at Texas A&M University, becoming CEO of a new program that will integrate engineering into all of the Texas A&M colleges that are part of the healthcare enterprise, as well as executive dean of a new engineering medicine track within the program that will train Texas A&M medical students to create solutions to challenging medical problems. The new engineering track is a partnership between Texas A&M and Houston Methodist Hospital.
Pettigrew was the first permanent director of NIBIB when he was appointed to the post in 2002. Before his 15 years of service at NIBIB, Pettigrew was a professor of radiology and medicine at Emory University and professor of engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has received numerous awards, including the inaugural Gold Medal from the Academy of Radiology Research and the RSNA's 2017 Gold Medal.
Jill Heemskerk, PhD, will serve as acting director while a replacement for Pettigrew is sought, said NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, PhD.
