Faculty Spotlight: Dr. David Kwartowitz

GCU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology is proud to support faculty member Dr. David Kwartowitz as he attends the Society of Photographic Instrumentation’s (SPIE) upcoming conference. The international Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions and Modeling Conference is one of the world’s premier forums for introducing new technologies.

Dr. Kwartowitz received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2007 and has held research positions and taught in higher education since then. He joined GCU’s full-time engineering faculty at the beginning of the 2017-18 academic year and has been the biomedical engineering program lead since the summer of 2018. Since joining the university, he has written program courses on biomedical instrumentation and the engineering senior capstone project, as well as upper division courses on electronics and devices and advances in computer design offered by other engineering disciplines in CSET. One class he teaches is the BME-465 Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation and Devices Lab, which features the use of the Bruker Skyscan Micro-CT (pictured above).

Dr. Kwartowitz is also the faculty advisor for the Biomedical Engineering Society. Through CSET’s Research and Design Program (RDP) research initiative, he co-founded the Biomechanics Research Institute to develop undergraduate research opportunities. “The Biomechanics Research Institute is developing methods for non-invasive, low cost assessment of patient biomechanics with a focus on applications for pediatric patients,” explained Dr. Kwartowitz.

He also serves as a member of the review panel for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and as a peer reviewer for other journals and conferences. He has published on a range of subjects within biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, primarily related to medical imaging, image-guided surgery and medical robotics. Amongst his publications, Dr. Kwartowitz has written some of the seminal papers on robotic image-guided surgery, including one commonly cited manuscript objectively determining the accuracy and precision of the da Vinci surgical robot. Much of his most recent work relates to use of image-guidance along with other tools to improve patient outcomes. One of such applications is the development of a tracked catheter system for use in repair of congenital heart defects in neonates, children and adults that results in lower X-ray exposure, meaning a lower chance of long-term disease for both patients and clinical staff. Dr. Kwartowitz’s work has been published in numerous journals and conference proceedings.

As a senior member, Dr. Kwartowitz will be serving on the program committee for the annual SPIE conference this February. He will join world leaders in medical imaging and image-processing in determining the future direction of these fields. GCU couldn’t be more proud of Dr. Kwartowitz and his dedication to his field!

To learn more about the opportunities presented by the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, visit our website or click the Request More Information button on this page.