Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine

Tuan Vo-Dinh is R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Chemistry, and Director of the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics at Duke University. A native of Vietnam and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Dr. Vo-Dinh completed high school education in Saigon (now Ho Chi minh City). He continued his studies in Europe where he received a B.S. in physics in 1970 from EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1975 from ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, Switzerland. Before joining Duke University in 2006, Dr. Vo-Dinh was Director of the Center for Advanced Biomedical Photonics, Group Leader of Advanced Biomedical Science and Technology Group, and a Corporate Fellow, one of the highest honors for distinguished scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His research has focused on the development of advanced technologies for the protection of the environment and the improvement of human health. His research activities involve nano-biophotonics, nanosensors, laser spectroscopy, molecular imaging, medical diagnostics, cancer detection, chemical sensors, biosensors, and biochips.

Dr. Vo-Dinh has authored over 400 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is the author of a textbook on spectroscopy and editor of 6 books. He holds over 37 U.S. and international patents, five of which have been licensed to private companies for commercial development. Dr. Vo-Dinh has presented over 200 invited lectures at international meetings in universities and research institutions. He has chaired over 20 international conferences in his field of research and served on various national and international scientific committees. He also serves the scientific community through his participation in a wide range of governmental and industrial boards and advisory committees.

Dr. Vo-Dinh has received seven R&D 100 Awards for Most Technologically Significant Advance in Research and Development for his pioneering research and inventions of innovative technologies. He has received the Gold Medal Award, Society for Applied Spectroscopy (1988); the Languedoc-Roussillon Award (France) (1989); the Scientist of the Year Award, ORNL (1992); the Thomas Jefferson Award, Martin Marietta Corporation (1992); two Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer, Federal Laboratory Consortium (1995, 1986); the Inventor of the Year Award, Tennessee Inventors Association (1996); and the Lockheed Martin Technology Commercialization Award (1998), The Distinguished Inventors Award, UT-Battelle (2003), and the Distinguished Scientist of the Year Award, ORNL (2003). In 1997, Dr. Vo-Dinh was presented the Exceptional Services Award for distinguished contribution to a Healthy Citizenry from the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2011 Dr. Vo-Dinh received the Award for Spectrochemical Analysis from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry.