John A Szivek

John A Szivek

Adjunct Associate Professor, Aerospace-Mechanical Engineering
Adjunct Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery
Professor, Physiological Sciences - GIDP
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-6094

Research Interest

John A Szivek, PhD, is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine and the Director of the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory in the Arizona Arthritis Center. He holds the William and Sylvia Rubin, Chair of Orthopaedic Research and serves as the Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Interdisciplinary Program. Dr. Szivek is a member of the Physiological Sciences Graduate interdisciplinary Program as well as an adjunct faculty member of Materials Science and Engineering and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He is internationally recognized for his research on the development of implantable measurements systems to characterize the effect of implants on tissue and on activity induced musculoskeletal tissue regeneration (specifically bone and cartilage). Recently he has utilized adult stem cells on 3D printed scaffolds to regenerate joint cartilage in efforts to develop techniques to help athletes and osteoarthritis patients. He has published over 180 research articles, several in collaboration with investigators from around the world, and authored 2 book chapters. As part of the sensor and transmitter systems developed in his lab, computer software programs for hand held devices (including tablets, hand held computers and smart phones) have been written to allow portable monitoring of tissue while it heals. He is a frequent presenter at national and international meetings, and has been an invited speaker at the Arizona Rheumatology Society; the Musculoskeletal Transplant Society Board meetings and the research forums at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in the University of Toronto. He has won more than 165 grants, specifically to provide support to undergraduate minority students, allowing them to do hands on research on a range of activity induced tissue engineering topics. He has trained graduate students with federal grant support and has had support through a number of regional and national foundations to train top tier undergraduates and medical students. Dr. Szivek believes it is essential to effectively train the next generation of bioengineering researchers, clinicians and clinician scientists, in cutting edge topics so that the progress that his lab has made in developing tissue regeneration approaches and sensor/transmitter systems used to design patient specific therapies will become widely utilized.