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About
The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU BME) seeks to provide a first-class engineering education that prepares students for a variety of careers and a cutting-edge graduate program that advances knowledge and technology with the goal to improve human well-being.
Our department is organized around seven distinct research disciplines that bridge all departments and schools at WashU:
- Biomedical & Biological Imaging
- Cardiovascular Engineering
- Cell & Molecular Bioengineering
- Neural Engineering
- Orthopedic Engineering
- Regenerative Engineering in Medicine
- Women's Health Technologies
We offer degree programs at every level. Our Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering, and PhD in Biomedical Engineering are all taught by expert faculty who are leaders in their fields.
Facts and Figures
Ranked No. 12 by
US News & World Report
US News & World Report
$15.0 M in research awards
(FY 2024)
(FY 2024)
54% of WashU BME
students are women
13-plus start-up companies
launched by WashU BME faculty
launched by WashU BME faculty
Rankings
No. 6 undergraduate biomedical engineering program (Successful Student)
No. 12 graduate biomedical engineering program (U.S. News & World Report)
No. 13 2023 best colleges for Engineering (Niche)
No. 3 School of Medicine (Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research)
No. 1 city for new grads to start a career, St. Louis (Insurify)
At a glance
27 tenured/tenure-track faculty, including:
130-plus affiliate faculty
33% of faculty are women
281 undergraduate students, Fall 2023
52 Master’s students, Fall 2023
156 PhD students, Fall 2023
Objective
Our overall objective is to prepare those in our biomedical engineering training programs for a variety of career paths. To that end, our undergraduate curriculum is designed to provide technical proficiency, as well as communication and other professional skills so that our graduates will be able to:
- Pursue careers in the biomedical engineering industry or related fields.
- Undertake advanced study (e.g. MS, PhD) in biomedical engineering or a related field.
- Complete professional degrees (e.g., in medicine, dentistry, law).
2023 BME Year in Review
The WashU BME Year in Review highlights of our student, faculty and community accomplishments in 2023.
Featured stories:
- Virtual drug quiets noise in images of heart tissue
- A low-cost potential therapy for spinal cord injuries
- Small proteins in heart play big role
- Induction of a torpor-like state with ultrasound
- Quantitative Physiology leaves lasting impression on biomedical engineers
- McKelvey Engineering students win Rice360 global health tech design competition
- O’Brien lab mentors local high school researcher
- Summer school: Vahey lab hosts K-12 educator for curriculum development
- Wagenseil named Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society
- Molecular activity of the immune system to get a closer look
- Making every photon count
- O’Brien team advances in NIH maternal health challenge
- Brain-machine interfaces for insects to study principles of odor-guided navigation
- A design of experiments approach to precision vaccine adjuvants
- New imaging technology may reduce surgeries for rectal cancer patients
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View the 2023 BME Year in Review