Education

• M.D., Emory University, 1984
• Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1983
• M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1982
• B.A., Harvard University, 1978

Background

Dr. Ku is a Regents’ Professor and was named as the L.P. Huang Chair Professor in 2000. He began at Tech in 1986 as an Assistant Professor. Prior, he was a Professor of Surgery at Emory, a Fulbright Gastprofessor in Munich, Germany and a Fellow in Cardiovascular Pathology at the University of Chicago.

Research

• Bioengineering and Fluid Mechanics; Biofluid mechanics, medical devices, medical implants, translational technology, and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Ku is an MD and PhD with an active interest in vascular surgery and unsteady, three-dimensional fluid dynamics. His current projects study: 
The mechanics of heart attacks and strokes from the rapid conversion of liquid blood into an occluding solid at very high shear rates, called thrombosis.  This experimental, analytical, and computational work has identified the fastest, strongest bond in biology. We can use this knowledge to prevent the number one cause of death in millions of patients with nanoparticle medical devices.

Recently, the group has demonstrated that this solid thrombus is porous yet strong enough to stop profound bleeding, called hemostasis. The studies may lead to treatment of post-partum hemorrhage and traumatic bleeding that kills the most people under age 40.
Dr. Ku’s lab utilizes experimental microfluidics and multiscale computational mechanics to provide new diagnostics and therapies for vascular diseases.  

His research extends to Translational Technology using applied biomedical engineering to impact patient care and therapy. Projects span from medical device design to development of bench tests to predict clinical performance. Dr. Ku teaches entrepreneurship in the Business School and product development to bring technological solutions to the bedside.

Dr. Ku's work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the Whitaker Foundation. His collaborative work is performed with Emory University, Paris Tech-Mines, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.