Sally McArthur receives top honour for biomaterials research

IFM Director Sally McArthur has achieved  the highest honour within the global biomaterials community – being named a  Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering. 

Elected by the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUSBSE), Prof. McArthur is now recognised among the top 10% of the most highly regarded biomaterials scientists in the world. 

“Professor Sally McArthur was elected as a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering based on her significant impact as a biomanufacturing expert, her work on novel interfaces that elicit specific physical and biological responses and her successful collaborations with industry,” Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University and IUSBSE President Joachim Kohn said. 

“Professor McArthur will be formally inducted into the International College of Fellows during the upcoming World Biomaterials Congress in Daegu, South Korea, in May 2024.  

“Fellows are expected, through word and deed, to foster the field of biomaterials, to support its professional development as a practical and intellectual endeavour, and to serve as a role model.” 

The International College of Fellows has developed several programs and activities to foster the global biomaterials community, including student exchange programs and major conferences. 

For more than 20 years, Prof. McArthur’s has used engineering principles to improve wellbeing – and in particular has developed extensive expertise in developing industry-academic research collaborations. She established the MedTechVic Hub and played a key role in the establishment of the Australian National Fabrication Facility Victoria (ANFF-Vic) Biointerface Engineering Hub, an open access facility for academic and industry researchers to gain expert support to connect biology with technology. 

Prof. McArthur adds the Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering to her list of accomplishments including her election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) in 2021; named in the top ’50 women at the cutting edge of science in Australia’ by Cosmos Magazine in 2023, BioMelbourne Network “Most Valuable Woman in Leadership Award” and a Fellow of the AVS Science and Technology Society. 

Prof. McArthur said it was truly an honour to be elected by peers in the global biomaterials community. 

“I have dedicated much of my career to biomaterial engineering – but my other passion is developing collaborative partnerships between academic peers and industry,” she said. 

“I hope as a Fellow I can serve to guide and mentor the next generation of biomaterials scientists on how to unlock the power of collaboration and how together we can discover solutions to some of the greatest materials challenges facing the world today.”