Mark Gartner

Mark J. Gartner - M.E. Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon, M.B.A. Finance and Entrepreneurship, University of Pittsburgh, Ph.D. Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon. Dr. Gartner began his career in medical product design and development in 1988 as a clinical bioengineer responsible for various facets of the mechanical circulatory support program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His work included direct clinical care of patients supported by various types of mechanical circulatory support devices including total artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices as well as design of several types of integrated pump-oxygenator devices. Dr. Gartner was director of the Pittsburgh chronic artificial lung program which focused on development of an active mixing pump-oxygenator developed in his laboratory for long-term ambulatory ECMO/ECLS. He has also extensively collaborated with clinical colleagues in the design and development of minimally invasive surgical tools and engineered biocompatible surface treatments for both blood compatibility and infection resistance. In 2003, Dr. Gartner developed and has since taught the Senior Design course sequence in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. This two-semester capstone course sequence requires Bioengineering students to synthesize and extend principles from prior coursework toward the design or redesign of a medical product. The course requires that students interact with clinicians as part of the overall course goal of understanding the unique challenges of working within clinical medicine. Under the guidance of clinical, academic, and industrial mentors, students develop competing designs, fabricate prototypes, and evaluate whether the functional specifications are achieved. Their work is performed under the appropriate facets of FDA's Quality System Regulation and evaluated in accordance with FDA's Quality System Inspection Technique.