Harvey S. Borovetz, PhD.

Professor and Chair
Department of Bioengineering
Robert L Hardesty Professor of Surgery
Swanson School of Engineering
Department of Bioengineering
312 Center for Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh, PA 15219
e-mail: borovetzhs@upmc.edu
 
Education:
 
1976 - Ph.D., Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon University. Advisor: Tin-Jan Hung, Department of Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon University
1973 - M.S., Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon University. Advisor: Michael H. Weissman, Department of Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon University
1969 - B.S., Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
 
Professional Experience (Recent):
 
2002–  present Chairman, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2000 – present Robert L. Hardesty Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
1999 – present Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
1998 – present Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
1998 – 2000IPA,Bioengineering Research Group, NHLBI/NIH, Bethesda, MD
1991 – present Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
 
 
Relevant Publications (Names in bold face are all graduate students mentored by Professor Borovetz):
 
  1. Rodgers VGJ, Teodori MF, Brant AM, and Borovetz HS: Characterization in vitro of the biomechanical properties of anastomosed host artery graft combinations. Journal of Vascular Surgery 4:396-402, 1986.
  2. Rodgers VGJ, Teodori MF, and Borovetz HS: Experimental determination of mechanical shear stress about an anastomotic junction. Journal of Biomechanics 20:795-803, 1987.
  3. Kormos RL, Borovetz HS, Gaisor T, Antaki JF, Armitage JM, Pristas JM, Hardesty RL and Griffith BP: Experience with univentricular support in mortally ill cardiac transplant candidates. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 49:261-72, 1990.
  4. Wachter CJ, Frattini PL, Hung TC, Kormos RL, Griffith BP and Borovetz HS: Erythrocyte deformability in patients during left ventricular assistance. Clinical Hemorheology 11:325-37, 1991.
  5. Greisler HP, Joyce KA, Kim DU, Pham SM, Berceli SA and Borovetz HS: Spatial and temporal changes in compliance following implantation of bioresorbable vascular grafts. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 26:1449-61, 1992.
  6. Borovetz HS, Ramasamy N, Zerbe TR and Portner PM: Evaluation of an implantable ventricular assist system for humans with chronic refractory heart failure - device explant protocol. ASAIO Journal 41:42-48, 1995.
  7. Swartz MT, Borovetz HS, Miller PJ, Mitchell HE, Watson JT, Griffith BP, Pennington DG and Portner PM: Evaluation of an implantable ventricular assist system for humans with chronic refractory heart failure: Technical considerations. ASAIO Journal 41:27-31, 1995.
  8. Schaub R, Kameneva MV, Borovetz HS and Wagner WR: Assessing acute platelet adhesion on opaque metallic and polymeric biomaterials with fiber optic microscopy. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 49:460-468, 2000.
  9. Borovetz HS, Macha M, Kameneva MV, Griffith BP, Litwak P, Butler KC, Maher TR, Taylor LP and Thomas DC: “Development of the Nimbus/University of Pittsburgh Pediatric Rotary Blood Pump,” In: Mechanical Circulatory Support for Pediatric Cardiac Patients, BW Duncan (ed), Marcel Dekker, Chapter 19, pp.335-348, 2000.
 
Synergistic Activities:
 
Harvey S Borovetz has played a key role in the development of the Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He began as Graduate Coordinator and helped grow the Graduate Program to its current status, which includes 109 Ph.D. candidates, of which 40% are women. He will be chair for two cycles of ABET accreditation. Under Borovetz’s tenure as chair, the number of full-time faculty in the Department has risen to 20, with more than 100 other faculty holding secondary academic appointments in the Department of Bioengineering, including more than two dozen physicians. As such, the Department of Bioengineering can truly be considered a “university department” which welcomes students with all backgrounds and faculty across the 6 departments of the Swanson School and 5 Schools of the Health Sciences.
Dr. Borovetz's current research interests are focused on the design and clinical utilization of cardiovascular organ replacements for both adult and particularly, pediatric patients. Since 1986, he has served first as the director and currently as the bioengineering faculty liaison for the university's Clinical Bioengineering Program in Mechanical Circulatory Support. This is a one-of-a-kind program that supports patients who are implanted with a left ventricular assist device, or a total artificial heart, as a bridge-to-cardiac transplantation or bridge-to-recovery. This work in mechanical circulatory support followed Dr. Borovetz's early efforts in which he collaborated with cardiac surgeons in applying extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to successfully treat a large series of neonates in respiratory distress.
 
Collaborators and Other Affiliations:
 
J Antaki, Carnegie Mellon University; R Gilbert, MIT; B. Paden, UC Santa Barbara; K Dasse, Levitronix, LLC, Waltham, MA.; P Khanwilkar, WorldHeart, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT; W Wagner, University of Pittsburgh; M Kameneva, University of Pittsburgh; P Wearden, University of Pittsburgh; S Webber, University of Pittsburgh.
Graduate Advisor: Professor. Tin-Kan Hung, University of Pittsburgh (current affiliation)
Thesis Advisor (Ph.D.) and Postgraduate-Scholar Mentor (Surgical Fellows)
Arthur M Brant, M.D., Ph.D. (Retinal Surgeon, Ohio), Scott A. Berceli, M.D., Ph.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Florida), James F. Antaki, Ph.D. (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University), David A. Vorp, Ph.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh), Richard Schaub, Ph.D. (Artificial Heart Program, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), Robert F. Labadie, M.D., Ph.D. (Department of Otolaryngology, Vanderbilt University), Bartley P. Griffith, M.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Maryland), G. Michael Deeb, M.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Michigan), Mary C. Mancini, M.D. (Department of Surgery, Louisiana State University), Robert L. Kormos, M.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh), Si M. Pham, M.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Miami), Samuel J. Durham, M.D. (Department of Surgery, University of Toledo),
 
Undergraduate Sponsor:
 
A. M. Lincoff, R Mehta, S Mehta, G Molek, J Hoffmeister, K Williams, S Winowich, J Pristas, S Olia, D Arnold, S Shah, R Geis, J Crist, M McGuire, J Astbury, R Schaub, J Green