On July 1, Biomedical Engineering (BME) Professor Dr. Matthew Kay was named GW Engineering’s new Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs. Kay will oversee all aspects of the school’s research enterprise and support faculty affairs, especially those related to faculty development.
“As research nationally faces immense headwinds, Dr. Kay’s leadership and signature collaboration skills are exactly what GW Engineering needs at this moment to continue our remarkable momentum in research and develop new programs to support our faculty,” Interim Dean Zara shared.
“In addition to his 30 years of ground-breaking organ-level physiology research, Dr. Kay also has served for many years as a GW Engineering Faculty Senator and helped lead the Faculty Senate Research Committee during particularly challenging times for our research enterprise. All of this has prepared him extremely well to take on this school-wide role.”
The Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs position was created to align individual faculty success with the college’s mission and strategic research goals. Kay will lead strategic research planning, facilitate research funding opportunities, and promote equitable opportunities for research success. He will partner with the dean, department chairs, and the GW Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) to support faculty research labs and facilities, as well as processes for faculty recruitment, hiring, appointment, tenure, promotion, and retirement.
“Every day, GW Engineering faculty are pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation with their interdisciplinary research projects, positioning the school to lead GW in new and impactful cross-school research initiatives,” Kay began.
“I look forward to facilitating such initiatives and supporting faculty as they pursue their research goals. The landscape for research support in the US is never constant, and I believe this is an opportunity to try new ideas, be creative, and work together, because human curiosity will continue to expand knowledge through research,” Kay added.
“Dr. Kay has been a highly successful researcher during his career at GW, in addition to being a stalwart supporter of training in research,” said Zara. “I am excited for him to bring this enthusiasm to expand faculty development in GW Engineering, supporting research expansion into new and exciting directions.”
Kay joined GW in 2005. His service contributions include many leadership roles, including the BME Department’s Associate Chair for Research and Graduate Affairs from 2015 to 2018. Since 2003, his research has been continuously funded by extramural sources, including the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Whitaker Foundation, and other industry partners. Notable distinctions include being a chartered member of an NIH study section, election to the rank of Inventor Member in the National Academy of Inventors, receiving a GW Engineering Faculty Recognition Award in 2016, and the GW Engineering Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2011. His research has yielded multiple patents and more than 130 publications.
Kay develops innovative technologies to study cardiac disease using high-speed optical assessments of the heart, including electrical mapping, time-resolved absorbance spectroscopy, and neurocardiac optogenetics. His interdisciplinary work provides new insights into the relationships between cardiac ischemia (decreased blood flow to the heart), hypoxia, and workload, and how these factors may cause lethal arrhythmias. His work has informed the development of new clinical devices and pharmaceutical therapies to reduce the debilitating impact of myocardial infarction, heart failure, and sleep apnea.