Dr. Owen McCarty’s research and leadership career spans two decades of scientific innovation, academic stewardship, and translational impact. He is the Gordon Moore Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), where he has guided the department through an era of major growth and expanded national visibility. Under his leadership, the BME graduate program was integrated into the OHSU School of Medicine and grew to one of its largest Ph.D. training cohorts, while new joint-degree pathways and cross-disciplinary initiatives strengthened the school’s educational and research ecosystem.
As Chair, Dr. McCarty has overseen transformative initiatives that elevated the department’s research enterprise and faculty development. He facilitated the recruitment of 14 faculty across computational biology, cancer engineering, imaging, and regenerative medicine, co-recruited physician-scientist leaders in hematology/medical oncology, and helped establish the Program in Quantitative and Systems Biology to unite engineering and biological sciences across OHSU. He created a robust promotion and tenure infrastructure and broadened advancement criteria to formally recognize team science and innovation. These efforts contributed to a landmark Science publication reshaping national conversations around academic evaluation. During his tenure, the department increased representation of women and historically underrepresented groups in both faculty and student populations and improved its national ranking and research expenditures.
Dr. McCarty’s research focuses on the physical biology of blood cells in pathologies associated with thrombosis, inflammation, and cancer metastasis, with an emphasis on translating mechanistic insights into therapeutic advances. His program has led to more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, multiple patents, sustained federal research support, and the development and FDA approval of first-in-human trials for two novel antithrombotic agents. Beyond academia, he has helped catalyze seven biotechnology startups from departmental research, contributing to the growth of the Pacific Northwest’s biomedical innovation economy. With a career rooted in scientific rigor, collaborative leadership, and translational vision, Dr. McCarty brings deep expertise in research strategy, workforce development, and technology advancement to his service on the UH BME Executive Leadership Board.
He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, followed by a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship at Oxford University. Dr. McCarty is an Established Investigator and Fellow of the American Heart Association.