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Newsmakers of the Week MARCH 21, 2025 | The Indian Eye 25

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

DEEPAK NAGRATH AJAY SAINI
Professor honored with Faculty Doctor promoted as

Award by University of Michigan Medical Director of Quality for

Penn State Health

eepak Nagrath, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, has been honored
with the U-M College of Engineering-sponsored Departmental Facul-
Dty Award by the University of Michigan. Dr. Nagrath was nominated by
Biomedical Engineering (BME) in light of recent recognitions for his research
program investigating cancer cell metabolism and his national leadership in
transcriptional medicine. enn State Health has promoted Dr. Ajay Saini, an accomplished leader
Dr. Nagrath is part of the leadership team for the Center for Transcrip- with a proven track record of enhancing the quality of patient care, to
tional Medicine (CTM), which brings together more than 40 researchers from Pthe role of medical director of quality. The newly created systemwide
seven universities with the common goal of alleviating the burden of end-stage position will go into effect immediately.
organ diseases through mRNA-LNP therapies. This interdisciplinary team of Saini has practiced medicine for more than two decades. Prior to this
experts fosters collaboration and accelerates the development of exciting find- promotion, he served as the inaugural chair of medicine at Hampden Medical
ings into clinical populations. Center and, most recently, as a regional medical director of inpatient services
The main goal of the Center for Transcriptional Medicine is to catalyze for Penn State Health Medical Group. He also teaches internal medicine to
the generation of a novel approach to reprogram chronically injured tissues medical students at Penn State College of Medicine as an assistant professor.
and organs. A recent issue of the U-M Rogel Cancer Center’s “Illuminate” “The prospect of guiding and enhancing the quality of patient care, cou-
magazine highlighted Dr. Nagrath’s work, featuring ways his lab studies how pled with the opportunity to form a team that will use best practices to find
the tumor microenvironment communicates with and fuels cancer cells. innovative healthcare solutions is extremely inspiring,” Saini said, adding he
Dr. Nagrath’s research areas focus on what is the role of tumor microen- plans to work with quality leaders to develop performance monitoring systems
vironment in modulating cancer cell metabolism and develop a personalized to ensure all of Penn State Health’s hospitals rank in the top decile for quality
metabolic therapy and circulating tumor cell organoids and tumor tissue slices and patient safety.
in pancreatic, lung, and breast cancers. With extensive expertise in machine Saini will be responsible for developing new quality and patient safety
learning, metabolic flux analysis and systems metabolomics, his lab is building initiatives for Penn State Health. He will also ensure compliance with regula-
new quantitative models to measure flux in brain cancers and their microen- tory standards through a culture of safety and high reliability, identifying op-
vironment. portunities for improvement and leading initiatives to enhance patient safety
Michigan BME combines the strengths of two schools that are among and quality. He will also collaborate with the Chief Medical Officers at each
the very best in their fields – the U-M College of Engineering and Michigan hospital, facility quality teams and system leadership.
Medical School. In fiscal year 2024, three of Penn State Health’s acute care hospitals (Her-
U-M BME offers collaborative research and educational opportunities shey Medical Center, Hampden Medical Center and Lancaster Medical Cen-
through the College of Engineering, the Medical School, and the many glob- ter) were ranked in the top quartile of hospitals nationwide for quality and
ally-recognized programs that extend throughout the University of Michigan, accountability by healthcare performance company Vizient.
which is among the top three public universities in the United States. Continued on next page... >>

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