For her outstanding productivity and service to BME, Rachel Price has been presented with the Geddes-Laufman-Greatbatch Award for the academic year 2003-2004. Rachel is a PhD candidate, working with Professors Tom Webster and Karen Haberstroh on the effects of biologically-inspired alumina, carbon, and hydroxyapatite size and shape on bone-cell function. The result of her studies will aid medical researchers in the development of better biocompatible surfaces for implantable devices. Rachel plans on finishing up her PhD in May of 2004, and will most likely accept a position in a medical device company.

The Geddes-Laufman-Greatbatch Award was established by Dr. Leslie A. Geddes after he received the 1987 AAMI Foundation/Laufman-Greatbatch Prize in recognition of the importance and unparalleled diversity of his contributions in biomedical instrumentation. Dr. Harold Laufman is emeritus professor of surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and director emeritus, Institute of Surgical Studies, Montefiore Medical Center in New York. Wilson Greatbatch was trained as an electrical engineer but his research, which combined engineering with medical electronics, agricultural genetics, and electrochemistry, resulted in the first implantable pacemaker.