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t m c » p u l s e | a p r i l 2 0 1 9 29 Polytechnic Institute in 1973 and Ph.D. in applied radiation physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977. Throughout his years in academia, Pettigrew harbored a deep interest in integrating his physics background with medicine. He researched the application of boron-neutron capture therapy for malignant brain tumors while at MIT and subsequently earned his M.D. from the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. Pettigrew became the first director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), an agency founded in 2002 and charged with improving health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. He admitted that he came "relatively close" to becoming the type of physicianeer EnMed will train, but learning engineering and medicine separately isn't the same. "I wish that I had been learning the life sciences to the same degree at the time that I was learning physics and engineering ... so I could understand the natural interplay ... of all of these disciplines," Pettigrew said. "If I'd gotten it from the begin- ning, I think right out of school the fountain spring of ideas of how to approach problems would have been much greater and much quicker. I think this would accelerate the pro- duction of successful creators and innovators and more effective and efficient solutions." ➟ Left: Kevin Roark, a mechanical engi- neering student, works in the Zachary Engineering Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.