Kylie M. Foster awarded the ASAIO Kolff Award.
The Gallogly College of Engineering is proud to announce that doctoral candidate Kylie M. Foster recently received top honors at the annual meeting of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Foster presented two research papers at the conference and served as a session moderator. Her abstract, "Hemocompatibility and RBC Extracellular Vesicle Production: Shear versus Extensional Stress," was recognized as the top paper in the Bioengineering section. She also received the ASAIO Kolff Award, which honors the conference's best presentation.
Foster is a doctoral candidate in the School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, where she conducts research under the guidance of Dr. Edgar O'Rear. Her work focuses on understanding how blood cells can be damaged as they pass through life-saving medical devices such as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) systems and blood pumps. This research aims to improve the safety and performance of medical technologies used to support critically ill patients.
Dr. O’Rear noted, “Kylie excelled as a top undergraduate student in SCMBE, then worked for a medical device company before returning to OU for graduate school.”
The Kolff Award is named in honor of Dr. Willem J. Kolff, a pioneer in the field of artificial organs whose groundbreaking contributions include the development of hemodialysis and the artificial heart.
