UBC Orthopaedics welcomes Dr. Dena Shahriari

The Department of Orthopaedics, ICORD, and the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) welcomes Dr. Dena Shahriari to our growing team of talented faculty members looking to make an impact on global health and healthcare.

Dr. Shahriari’s passion in research lies in the intersection of biomaterials, optoelectronic devices, and neuroscience. As a biomaterials scientist and neural engineer, Dr. Shahriari’s vision is to develop fully implantable neuroelectronic devices, sensors, and smart biomaterials that will effectively interface and communicate with biological tissues and thus provide new capabilities to study nerve repair mechanisms and augment organ function after paralysis.

Dr. Shahriari will lead the BioAugmentative Interfaces Laboratory located at ICORD in downtown Vancouver to develop devices for tissue repair and organ augmentation. Her recent TEDx talk captures not only the essence of her research but also her dedication to transcending disability. As an admirer of Rick Hansen and his ground-breaking impacts on accessibility and inclusion, Dena Shahriari expresses the honour of getting to work at UBC and ICORD to research spinal cord injury. As she puts it, “Mothership has called me home.”

Dr. Shahriari joins us from MIT, where she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Bioelectronics group. She completed her PhD from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and BS from the University of California Berkeley.

Dr. Shahriari is also a firm believer in conceptual learning and is looking to translate the importance of a meaningful educational experience at the UBC.

“Mentorship and teaching are arguably the most important and joyful parts of being in academia—that is, educating, inspiring, and helping students find their passion, reach their fullest potentials, and build our future. While I am sincerely passionate about research, I cannot imagine enjoying scientific ambitions and discoveries without providing nourishing mentorship and effective teaching,” Shahriari proclaims.

We look forward to having Dr. Shahriari at UBC in January 2021! Please join us in welcoming her to the Department of Orthopaedics, ICORD and the SBME.


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A version of this announcement originally appeared on the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering website.