Lorri Angelloz“What does this new announcement mean? The word ‘supercharged’ comes to mind. We’ve supercharged this engineering program with medicine to have these new inventions, these new ideas come across to solve vexing problems,” University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, said in celebrating a $10 million joint gift from Edward and Jennifer St. John and the Edward St. John Foundation to establish the Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine (CTEM).
The new center brings together researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) at UMB and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). Occupying the fourth floor of 4MLK at the University of Maryland BioPark, CTEM will foster face-to-face collaboration among clinicians and engineers. Their proximity will ensure that real-world clinical needs inform the creation of new devices, diagnostics, and treatments, accelerating the pathway from research to patient care — resulting in next-generation medical solutions that will benefit patients across Maryland and beyond.
UMCP President Darryll J. Pines, PhD, MS, underscored the center’s potential to “radically change the future” for health care innovation.
“This is a collaboration that’s been done only five times before in the United States, between engineering and medicine,” Pines said. Citing concerns such as increasing cancer diagnoses in younger patients and the possibility of future pandemics, he noted that UMB and UMCP have “exceptional people and exceptional resources that can be brought to bear on these incredible, grand challenge problems.”
Both presidents expressed gratitude to Jennifer and Edward St. John and to the board of the Edward St. John Foundation for the significance of the gift, which will establish endowed and current-use professorships in bioengineering, support student awards in translational engineering and medicine, and provide operating funds for the center. Edward St. John, a UMCP engineering graduate turned Baltimore-based business leader and philanthropist, previously donated $10 million to build the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center at UMCP. As a philanthropist dedicated to transforming health care, St. John has also supported UMB’s CURE Scholars Program and the University of Maryland Medical Center, with a $1 million commitment in 2013 to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center Critical Care Tower and another $1 million in 2021 to construct the Edward and Jennifer St. John STEM Cell Laboratory, which will be located in the Stoler Center for Advanced Medicine, slated to open in fall 2026.
“It truly is a privilege to be here on this important day. It’s an important day because it represents the joining together of these major institutions in a way that we know will have a major impact on the fields of engineering and medicine,” Jennifer St. John said at the ceremony in January, emphasizing that the combined efforts of UMB and UMCP could save lives well beyond Maryland. “We are incredibly proud to support this endeavor, this visionary approach to the new frontier of engineering and medicine.”
Edward St. John added, “The discoveries that will be made, the technologies that will be created, and the protocols that will be designed here and established will shape the future of medicine.”
CTEM is led by co-directors Giuliano Scarcelli, PhD, of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMCP, and Osamah J. Saeedi, MD, of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UMSOM. Their collaborative work using cutting-edge ophthalmologic imaging to address ocular diseases such as glaucoma illustrates how the center will cultivate new possibilities across bioengineering and medicine. Building on these breakthroughs, the center will expand into diverse areas of translational science, encouraging broader collaborations that accelerate discovery and improve patient outcomes well beyond eye care.
Occupying the entire fourth floor of 4MLK, the center’s space was custom designed by UMSOM to facilitate collaboration between UMB and UMCP researchers. State-of-the-art equipment and easy access to UMB’s core labs and facilities will allow researchers to iterate their ideas as they develop potential new products.
Its location in 4MLK, the most recent addition to UMB’s 14-acre BioPark, places the center at the heart of a thriving biomedical innovation hub that is transforming Baltimore’s biotechnology landscape. By fostering groundbreaking research and cross-disciplinary collaboration, the center will not only advance medical science but also reinforce the critical role of the biotechnology sector in driving economic growth and scientific progress throughout Baltimore and the greater region.
“We are thrilled to have the Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine locate in 4MLK,” said James L. Hughes, MBA, chief enterprise and economic development officer and senior vice president at UMB and president of the BioPark. “In addition to providing cutting-edge facilities for life and health science innovation, one of the BioPark’s core missions is to create connection that further strengthens Baltimore’s thriving life science industry. CTEM researchers will join a vibrant, collaborative community in the BioPark and be well-supported as they advance their innovative health care technologies.”
