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ROMANIANTIMES
SACRAMENTO
Români cu care ne mândrim
Vernisaj ...
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Acești 100 de ani de la Unirea României reprezintă o piatră de hotar, și-n acest
an ar trebui să avem cât mai multe evenimente culturale, care să determine toți
românii din Chicago să participe și să simtă că suntem români. Chiar dacă suntem
departe de țară să arătam că avem această dorință să participăm la aceasta mare
sărbătoare ce are loc pe 1 Decembrie.
”
Alexandru Darida este câștigător al mai multor premii internaționale precum
Premiul Milano, premiul de excelenţă al Primăriei Chicago, premiul internațional
“Leonardo DaVinci” din Florența si premiul Francisco-Goya al Muzeului European
deArta Contemporana din Barcelona.
Recent, Alexandu Darida a fost selectat de către renumita publicație de specialitate
Art Tour International Magazine ca unul dintre cei mai pregnanți 60 de maeștri de
artă contemporană.
Pentru mine, Centenarul, este o dovadă că în decursul a 100 de ani, România s-a ridicat de la
un stat tânăr, la o țară cu capacități intelectuale deosebite și s-a făcut cunoscută în toată lumea,
iar aceasta se întâmplă în profesiuni diferite, drept dovadă fiind diversitatea domeniilor în care
activează cei premiați la Washington.”
Dr. Dan Nicolae este Profesor la University of Chicago, Decan al Facultății de Statistică, Profesor
la Facultatea deMedicină, secția GeneticăMedicală și Profesor la Facultatea de Genetică Umană.
“
A fost un eveniment emoționant, onoarea pe care am primit-o este o dublă recunoaștere, pe
de o parte a realizărilor noastre profesionale, iar pe de alta faptul că reprezentăm România pe
teritoriul Statelor Unite. Pentru mine cel mai emoționant a fost faptul că am fost recunoscut ca
român, și apoi pentru meritele mele în promovarea României peste hotare.
Pentru noi, Centenarul, este ocazia să sărbătorim România, să ne întâlnim, să sărbătorim
valorile comune, cultura și toate amintirile care ne leagă de țară.
”
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Români cu care ne mândrim
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Dr. Laura Marcu is a Professor of Biomedical
Engineering at UC Davis, and she also holds a
joint appointment as a Professor of Neurological
Surgery in the School of Medicine. Dr. Marcu
servesasaCo-leaderoftheBiomedicalTechnology
Program at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer
Center and Domain Leader of the University of
California Center for Accelerated Innovation.
She is a fellow of the Optical Society of America
(OSA), the International Society for Optics and
Photonics (SPIE), the Biomedical Engineering
Society (BMES), and the American Institute for
Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
InApril 2018, professor Marcu was inducted into
the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) at a
ceremony in Washington, DC. Election to NAI
Fellowstatus is thehighest professional distinction
accorded solely to academic inventors who have
demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in
creating or facilitating outstanding inventions
that made a tangible impact on quality of life,
economic development, and society. NAI aims to
enhance the visibility of academic technology and
innovation.
We talkedwithprofessorMarcuabout her research
and her accomplishments.
Q: Please tell us a bit about yourself.
A: Iwasborn inRomania ina small village–Greci,
Tulcea. I obtained my baccalaureate from Liceul
Vasile Alecsandri in Galati, and the Diploma of
Engineer in Mechanical Engineering from the
Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. I completed
a post-graduate specialization in spectroscopy,
lasers, and plasma physics at the University of
Bucharest. After moving to the United States, I
received a Masters of Science (MS) degree and
a PhD (doctorate) in Biomedical Engineering
from the University of Southern California in Los
Angeles. I joinedUCDavis in 2006, after working
at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and University of
Southern California where I started my academic
career. It has been a long journey!
Q:Youareverypassionateaboutyourworkand
received numerous awards and recognitions.
Please tell us more about your work.
A: My work includes teaching and research –
and more specifically, research focused on the
development of optical techniques for tissue
diagnostics. My laboratory has developed
time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and
fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy systems
for in vivo tissue interrogation, including studies in
human patients. We have applied these technologies
in clinical studies for the characterization and
diagnosis of atherosclerotic plaques, intra-operative
delineation of brain tumors, and intra-operative
diagnosis of head and neck tumors. Many of our
studies are done in collaboration with clinical
departments such as various surgical departments,
cardiology, and pathology. This allows us to
seamlessly integrate the end-users’ feedback into
the technology development process. More recently,
we developed a catheter probe capable of imaging
arteries inside a living heart, tool that could help
cardiologists predict heart attacks more reliably.
Our lab has broad expertise in clinical translation
of biophotonic technologies that play an important
role in addressing challenges associated with in vivo
disease diagnostics and therapies.
Q: What is the significance of your recent
election as a Fellow of the National Academy of
Inventors?
A: My election as a Fellow of NAI is a recognition
of my passion for developing new technologies that
can impact the diagnosis andmanagement of human
diseases. I have been very honored. Translating
research and technology development into clinical
setting is an arduous process that takes many years
to complete. It is very rewarding to see biophotonic
devices engineered in my lab used in patients, and
hope that our devices will impact the way patients
are diagnosed and treated and save lives not very far
in the future.
Q: What advice do you have for the next
generation of scientists (including Romanian
scientists) who are just starting their education
and/or careers?
A: I would encourage them to pursue a field they
are passionate about. Be creative, work hard, and
persevere despite many challenges along the way.
Trust yourself. Find mentors whose work and/or
character are inspiring. Be inquisitive and consider
the wide array of career pathways available to
scientists today – you could contribute as a teacher,
scientist, policy maker, science advocate, and more,
in academia, industry, government agencies, or non-
profit sector. The possibilities are endless.
Interview with Laura Marcu, UC Davis Professor.
by Gabriela Lee
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