IIT Madras first established a Biomedical Engineering division in 1959. Today the Institute has a vibrant biomedical program, with several departments adopting and modifying the program to render different perspectives.
Technology and basic sciences are the pillars of modern medical research.
Recognising this fact over sixty years ago, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) established a biomedical engineering division in 1959. The division was nurtured by stalwarts like Dr M.S. Valiathan and Prof.
T.M. Srinivasan. Today the Institute has a vibrant biomedical program, with several departments adopting and modifying the program to render different perspectives.
If the original biomedical division was focused on understanding human life from an engineering perspective, a new department – The Department of
Biotechnology – was formed in the early 2000s to study in-depth the cellular aspects of life. The research at this department covered biosciences, biochemistry, molecular biology, molecular biophysics and computational biology.
While these two departments were focused on the science and engineering aspects of life and diseases, the Department of Engineering Design was formed in 2007 to concentrate on the technical aspects of biomedical design. The mandate of this newly formed department was to take engineering design closer to practice. With almost a dozen doctors as adjunct faculty, the department blends engineering with medicine.
Research and application of technology in biomedical sciences are further enhanced by dedicated centres such as the Health Care Technology Innovation Center, a joint initiative of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India and the Centre for Computational Brain Research.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has been collaborating with several medical institutions in the city over the years. Every year faculty members publish research papers in collaboration with these doctors. Many institutions like Sankara Nethralaya, MGM hospitals, Voluntary Health Services, Sri Ramachandra Hospitals, Madras Medical Mission and Cancer Institute have research collaborations with IIT Madras. In partnership with Christian Medical College, Vellore, and Sri Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, IIT Madras offers a clinical research academic program leading to a Master’s degree and PhD.