Kersh selected as AIMBE Emerging Leader

MechSE Associate Professor Mariana Kersh has been selected to join the inaugural class of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s (AIMBE) Emerging Leaders Program.

AIMBE is a nonprofit organization representing academic and industry professionals in the fields of medical and biological engineering. The Emerging Leaders Program aims to increase engagement with underrepresented groups in medical and biological engineering, recognize rising leaders in the fields, and create a clearer pathway for election into AIMBE’s College of Fellows.

MechSE Professor Amy Wagoner Johnson nominated Kersh as well as Carle Illinois College of Medicine Teaching Associate Professor Manuel Hernandez. Among a group of 17 emerging leaders, Kersh and Hernandez will serve a three-year term beginning in 2025 and will each be paired with an AIMBE Fellow mentor. 

“Professors Kersh and Hernandez are exemplary – both engineers, both faculty members in [CI MED’s Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences] whose research focuses on human health, and both are committed to diversity in research and education. They are both deeply engaged in the CI MED curriculum that trains our physician-innovators,” said Wagoner Johnson, who serves as head of the BMTS department.

Kersh leads the Tissue Biomechanics Laboratory at Illinois, where her research focuses on the use of experimental methods to evaluate macro-level mechanical and structural properties of bone, cartilage, and connective tissues, such as ligaments, in order to include them into finite element simulations of these tissues under physiological loads. She is also a co-theme leader at the Beckman Institute and a Health Innovation Professor at Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

The Emerging Leaders will be recognized in March 2025 at AIMBE’s Annual Meeting.