Dr. Frank A. Pintar has been appointed founding chair of the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, pending approval by the MCW Board of Trustees and Marquette leadership.
Pintar currently serves as a professor in the joint department and as director of the Neuroscience and Biomechanics Research Laboratories at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. He also holds a secondary appointment in MCW’s Department of Neurosurgery.
In July 2016, Marquette and MCW partnered to create the Marquette University and MCW Department of Biomedical Engineering, which has brought together the engineering education and research expertise of Marquette’s Opus College of Engineering and the medical research, technology and clinical expertise of MCW to provide an inclusive education model for the next generation of engineers, scientists and physicians.
Pintar was identified as the top candidate for this role after a comprehensive national search process. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Marquette in 1982, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in biomedical engineering from Marquette in 1986.
He has held dual positions with both Marquette and MCW since 1987. From the earliest part of his career through the present, Pintar has had an ongoing interest in the biomechanics of the spine as it relates to surgical stabilization techniques. He has received funding from various federal and private funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense.