In her role as Head, she will be a member of the CIMED senior leadership team and serve as the principal administrative officer, and will provide executive leadership to the foundational science and engineering faculty of CIMED.
“I have served in a variety of capacities in the past three years in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and have worked with some amazing people during this time,” Wagoner Johnson said. “I am really excited for this opportunity to take a leadership role in the College and to continue to contribute to the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine."
Since 2016, Wagoner Johnson has provided leadership to CIMED first as Interim Engineering Course Director and then as Engineering Course Director for Obstetrics. In her role as an elected member of the Admissions Committee, she helped to define and shape the admissions process for the new College. She also served on several CIMED search committees, and is currently a Pod Mentor and Engineering Partner for Obstetrics.
Her research focuses on biomaterials and biomechanics with applications in bone and coral regeneration and mechanics of pre-term birth. Her research has been recognized by a Chair of Excellence at the NanoScience Foundation in Grenoble France and an Invited Professorship at the University of Grenoble. She was a Center for Advanced Study) Associate and received the Grainger College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2018. She has won awards for teaching and advising including the Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising, the Campus Award for Guiding Undergraduate Research, and the MechSE Two-Year Effective Teaching Award.
Wagoner Johnson holds graduate degrees in engineering from Brown University and a B.S. degree from the Ohio State University. She began her career at Illinois as a Research Assistant Professor in MechSE and joined as an Assistant Professor in 2005. She is currently a full professor.
Professor Wagoner Johnson will continue as a member of the MechSE faculty under a joint appointment with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.