Larry L. Hench to Receive Von Hippel Award for Contributions to the Field of Glass and Ceramics
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Larry L. Hench to Receive Von Hippel Award for Contributions to the Field of Glass and Ceramics The Materials Research Society's highest honor, the Von Hippel Award, this year will be given to Larry L. Hench "for pioneering accomplishments in the field of glass and ceramics including the demonstration of the first bioactive glass called Bioglass® and subsequent expansion of the field, demonstration of the feasibility of encapsulating nuclear waste products in glass/ceramic matrices, and development of sol gel processing to produce ultrahigh purity optical and dielectric materials with controlled microstructures." The Von Hippel Award is given annually to an individual in recognition of outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary research on materials. Hench is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida; professor of Ceramic Materials at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of London; and associate director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials at the University of London. After 32 years at the University of Florida, he accepted a chaired position at the Imperial College. During his career, Hench has worked in three multidisciplinary fields with important societal impact: bioactive medical materials, materials for radioactive waste disposal, and sol gel processing of microoptics and optical sensors. In 1969, Hench discovered Bioglass®, a compositional range of Na2O-CaO-P2O5SiC>2 glasses, which was the first fabricated material that bonded to living tissues. This discovery created the field now known as bioactive materials and has directly benefited millions of patients worldwide. Today, more than 80 laboratories in 20 countries are investigating bioactive materials for use as medical and dental implants. For over 15 years bioactive glasses, ceramics, and glass-ceramics have been used clinically to replace many different parts of the body, including the middle ear bone, teeth, vertebrae, orbit of the eye, knees, for anchoring of total hip, and for sensory prostheses. Recently, Hench and his colleagues discovered that the most bioactive glass compositions can also enhance bone proliferation to such an extent that it can be used to prevent loss of teeth from periodontal disease and to stimulate repair of bone in revision surgery of failed total hip and total knee replacement. The safety and reliability of Bioglass® is largely based upon the methodology of basic and applied research developed by Hench and his team at the University of Florida over the last 27 years. His multidis-
Larry L. Hench
ciplinary studies have also involved the collaboration and training of biomedical materials scientists from around the world. He has co-authored papers on this topic with scientists from England, Finland, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, China, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and France. When Hench began his work in this new field, no teaching materials existed. Over the years he has helped to fill this void, authoring or co-editing six books that describe a
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