Dr. Savio Lau-Yuen Woo

Related Links: Tell Us About You

Biography

(MSME 1966, PhD 1971) was elected into the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the American Academy of Science in 1991.

Dr. Woo is the Vice Chairman of Research and the Albert B. Ferguson Jr. Professor of Orthopedic Surgery in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The symposium and celebration honoring the first incumbent to this chair was held on April 28, 1993. Dr. Woo is also the Director of Research for the Center for Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Woo performed his graduate work under Professor Kobayashi and received his MS in the area of fracture mechanics. His PhD dissertation, "Structural Analysis of a CorneoScleral Shell," was a joint effort between the Department and the Northwest Research Foundation Bishop Eye Research Center.

During his career, Dr. Woo has been an officer in numerous professional societies, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the International Society for Fracture Repair. He has served on multiple editorial boards for journals such as the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Materials Science Reports, and the Journal of Engineering in Medicine. Dr. Woo is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Dr. Woo's research is in solid mechanics and biomechanics. His particular interests are theoretical and numerical analyses of the nonlinear material properties of biological tissues and viscoelastic analysis of soft biological tissue.

To date, Dr. Woo has published 139 original research papers, 284 abstracts and extended abstracts, and 55 book chapters. He has edited 3 symposia proceedings and 4 books, and has presented over 400 invited lectures.

Since his election into the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Woo received the H.R. Lissner Award from ASME and the World Renowned Foreign Scholars Lectureship Award from the National Science Council, Department of State, Republic of China.

This article was adapted from the Fall 1993 ME Newsletter.