Alumnus named director of programs at National Academy of Engineering
Guruprasad Madhavan, MBA ‘07, PhD ‘09, combined his passion for healthcare policy and engineering while a student at Binghamton.
Madhavan, who received an MBA in healthcare management and leadership from the School of Management and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, will put his widespread knowledge to use in his newly appointed position as director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
The NAE serves as an independent advisor to the government on matters involving engineering and technology. As director, Madhavan will be responsible for overseeing activities focusing on engineering practice, ethics, research, communication and policies spanning issues of economy, health, workforce, education, environment, national security, transportation, infrastructure, community development and international relations.
While this position is full of compelling responsibilities, Madhavan is most looking forward to working with new colleagues.
“My true privilege in this role,” he said, “is to work with people who are remarkably accomplished, talented, committed and creative.”
Before becoming director of programs in February, Madhavan’s research at NAE has been predominantly in health and medical policy. He has used a complex systems-engineering approach to guide a national strategy for cancer control in the United States and the analyses for making prescription medicines affordable. He has also used this approach to lead a global health forum on infectious disease and to build a platform to help prioritize new vaccine development.
Madhavan not only credits Binghamton with giving him the skills to use this specific engineering method, but also with teaching him the value of the people he works with.
“Binghamton as a university provided me the foundation and mentorship to be creative and fearless with complex systems,” he said. “But Binghamton as a community instilled in me the importance of focusing on people in these systems.”
This systems engineering background will also allow Madhavan to advance the engineering field as a whole.
“In the past decade, my systems engineering background has come in handy across many responsibilities at the National Academies,” he said, “especially now as I think about designing programs at NAE that can be fruitful to the engineering profession and in expanding the public consciousness of engineering.”
Among the honors Madhavan has earned are the National Academies’ Innovator Award, National Academy of Medicine’s Cecil Medal, U.K. Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Mike Sargeant Career Achievement Award, AAMI-Becton Dickinson Award for Professional Achievement, Washington Academy of Sciences’ Krupsaw Award for Engineering Sciences and Education, Professional Achievement Award from the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, and being named a distinguished young scientist by the World Economic Forum.
Madhavan, who authored the nonfiction work, Applied Minds: How Engineers Think (W.W. Norton), is writing a book on systems engineering that will feature the work of a Binghamton-area inventor. He said writing his second book has been a much different experience than the first.
“If Applied Minds was more like printing a circuit board, developing this manuscript feels more like patient brushwork in impressionism,” he said.
Madhavan expects to have a full draft ready for his publisher by the end of the year.
When asked if he has any advice for Binghamton students, Madhavan said, “Take a course unrelated to your core interests or something that’s [become] foreign to your mind. An accidental anthropology course I signed up for as an elective with David Sloan Wilson completely changed my view of life.”