Elizabeth Nance, the Jagjeet and Janice Bindra Endowed Career Development Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Washington, has been selected as the new Editor-in-Chief of Bioengineering & Translational Medicine (BioTM) journal. Published by Wiley in partnership with the AIChE and its Society for Biological Engineering (SBE), BioTM documents how chemical and biological engineering approaches are driving innovative technologies that advance clinical practice as well as commercial healthcare products. In her new role, Nance succeeds BioTM’s founding Editor-in-Chief, Samir Mitragotri (Wyss Institute, Harvard University), who had served in that role since the publication’s launch in March 2016.
In accepting the appointment, Nance said “I am excited to build upon the foundation established by Samir Mitragotri and the BioTM editorial board. In my role as Editor-in-Chief, I want to lead BioTM to be the gold-standard journal in the field by publishing rigorous, high-quality, equitable, and appropriately contextualized translational technologies that will have real-world impact in medicine.”
Nance’s background
A chemical and biomolecular engineering alumnus of North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her BS and PhD, respectively, Nance’s research lies at the intersection of engineering, neurosciences, data sciences, and translational medicine — and her work has impacted fields including pediatric, neurology, pathology, and neurobiology.
“As a chemical engineer by training, I am a big advocate for the role that engineers and chemical engineers play in translational medicine,” says Nance. She notes that her experience with implementing systems and processes is useful in her new editorial and publishing role. “I am a lover of all things organizational and administrative that increase efficiency,” says Nance, “and I do not shy away from the often-overlooked aspect of how infrastructure and processes may hinder or enable the scope and quality of manuscripts we receive. I aim to communicate clear expectations for authors and reviewers about the criteria needed to make a manuscript fit for BioTM.”
Nance’s objectives for BioTM
Among her objectives for the publication, Nance and the editorial team will work to increase submissions and peer review involvement by engaging chemical engineers, early-career engineers and scientists, clinicians, and industry and government-based professionals around the world.
Mirroring the translational medicine field’s growth, and to accommodate a recent rise in article submissions, Nance notes that BioTM is increasing its publications frequency from four issues per year to six issues per year. “In June 2023, we will release our first bimonthly virtual special issue, which will complement our regular issues to raise awareness around high priority or rapidly evolving areas of technological innovation,” says Nance. She adds that, through the regular article submission process and through the special issues, BioTM also seeks to identify and publish manuscripts that feature technological innovation representing underserved populations or applications.
Plans to enable this growth will be facilitated by an expanded BioTM editorial team, as well as an editorial apprenticeship program for early career scientists.
“BioTM is still a relatively young journal,” says Nance, “and our growth brings new opportunities to refine the scope of work published in BioTM.” She adds that the partnership with AIChE and SBE brings a unique opportunity to draw upon the evolving role of chemical and bioengineers in the translational medicine space. “Many of our colleagues work at the intersection of multiple disciplines — and this provides us with an incredible foundation to achieve BioTM’s mission of translating engineering technology for clinical use, as we continue to engage our community in peer review and publishing.”
Learn more about AIChE’s Bioengineering & Translational Medicine (BioTM) journal.