Shu Chien 2002 Recipient of the Jean-Leonard-Marie Poiseuille Award Outstanding Contributions to Rheology of Blood Circulation from Physiology to Molecular Biology

Shu Chien was awarded the Poiseuille Gold Medal Award of the International Society of Biorheology during the 11th International Congress of Biorheology, in Antalya, Turkey. His award address was titled "Effects of Rheological Factors on Signaling Ttransduction and Gene Expression in Endothelial Cells."

Starting in the 1960's, Dr. Chien conducted thorough rheological investigations on blood's viscometric behavior, and clearly and elegantly described the roles of erythrocyte deformability and aggregation in setting blood's rheological properties. Since his initial, fandamental studies of macroscopic hemorheology, he has used the results of those studies to understand micro-circulatory and macro-circulatory hemodynamics and physiology through insightful experimentation.

In 1998, Dr. Chien moved from Columbia University to the University of California, San Diego, where he served as Chairman of the Department of Bioengineering. Simultaneously, he changed the direction of his research to the molecular biology of blood and vascular cells and incorporating his hemorheology experience, he has become an internationally recognized leader in the area of shear stress impact on cellular transmembrane transduction, gene expresssion and cellular chemical kinetics.

He has recieved many awards, both for his scientific research and for his leadership in the biomedical and bioengineering fields.