Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., elected to National Academy of Engineering
Inaugural Chair of Biomedical Engineering, an international leader in the molecular imaging of cancer, becomes UTSW’s first NAE member
DALLAS – Feb. 14, 2025 – Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., inaugural Chair of Biomedical Engineering at UT Southwestern Medical Center and an internationally recognized leader in the fields of molecular imaging of cancer and nanotherapeutics, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
Dr. Achilefu, who joined UT Southwestern in February 2022, becomes UTSW’s first faculty member to achieve this prestigious honor, one of the highest professional distinctions bestowed on an engineer. He is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
Awarded more than 70 U.S. patents, Dr. Achilefu has developed cancer-avid materials and a wearable cancer-imaging goggle system, providing real-time guidance for surgeons to ensure complete removal of cancerous tissue. His seminal work in the use of innovative fluorescent materials for cancer imaging resulted in the clinical translation of a method to identify and treat many cancer types, especially breast tumors. Dr. Achilefu’s research interests also include portable imaging devices and nanotechnology.
Dr. Achilefu, who is also Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Radiology, and in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, helped launch the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building at UT Southwestern in partnership with The University of Texas at Dallas in October 2023. He has grown UTSW’s Biomedical Engineering Department to include 17 primary and 28 secondary faculty members who facilitate basic biomedical research and the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and disability.
“I am deeply grateful to my trainees, staff, colleagues, and family for their support and contributions that have paved the way for my election into the National Academy of Engineering,” Dr. Achilefu said. “I look forward with excitement to the future of biomedical engineering at UT Southwestern.”
Dr. Achilefu has published more than 300 scientific papers. He serves on the Board of Directors for SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and has been a member of the National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. A recipient of more than 20 national and international honors and awards for research excellence and leadership, Dr. Achilefu was the first to receive the Distinguished Investigator Award from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.
He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal Society of Chemistry, SPIE, and Optica, previously The Optical Society of America.
Before joining UT Southwestern, Dr. Achilefu served more than 20 years in the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was the Michel Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology, Professor of Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and Director of the Washington University Molecular Imaging Center and the Center for Multiple Myeloma Nanotherapy.
Dr. Achilefu studied chemistry and materials science at the University of Nancy in France before completing postdoctoral training in oxygen transport in biological systems and hematological science at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
The National Academy of Engineering, a nonprofit institution, was founded in 1964. Membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions in at least one of the following categories: “engineering practice, research, or education,” “pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or development/implementation of innovative approaches to engineering education,” or “engineering leadership of one or more major endeavors.” Honorees are elected by their peers.
Dr. Achilefu is one of 128 new U.S. members and 22 international honorees in the NAE’s Class of 2025. His election brings the NAE’s U.S. membership to 2,487 and its international total to 336. Inductees will be honored during the NAE’s annual meeting Oct. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Achilefu holds the Lyda Hill Distinguished University Chair in Biomedical Engineering.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.