Founders

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Reed Omary, M.D.

Carol D. & Henry P. Pendergrass Professor and Chair of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
First Director of the Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP)

Dr. Omary’s experience in engineering, along with his commitment to health care and innovation, led him to conceive an idea where he could encourage and mentor the next generation of health care leaders. He served as the director of MIDP for six years, fostering networks of connection and training that would launch our medical students into a path of change. Still involved with the MIDP and leading in many facets at Vanderbilt and beyond, Dr. Omary will continue to interact with the program. Listen here to learn more about our inaugural director.

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Matthew Walker, PhD

Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering
Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Associate Director of the Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP)

Dr. Walker was a pioneering and visionary innovator who touched the lives of many within Vanderbilt, the community of Nashville and across the nation. He developed a biomedical engineering design curriculum that connected the Vanderbilt School of Engineering, the medical school and industry. Dr. Walker offered MIDP students forward thinking and practical advice on how to promote innovation in his class, Innovation Activism, now taught by Charleson Bell, PhD. We were greatly saddened by his loss in 2021 and are proud to carry on his legacy.

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Bonnie Miller, M.D.

Professor of Medical Education and Administration

With an academic interest in in the moral development of physicians and the structure and function of curriculum committees, Dr. Miller was a perfect contributor to the foundation of the Medical Innovator Development Program (MIDP). Dr. Miller has served as a surgeon in private practice as well as at the Nashville Veteran’s Administration Medical Center. She has also served as Associate Dean for Health Sciences Education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where she gained a greater interest in the challenges facing medical education in modern times.

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Richard Boyer, M.D., PhD

Instructor of Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine
CEO of Intelligence Anesthesia
Graduate of Vanderbilt’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)

Richard Boyer exemplifies all we hope MIDP students can achieve. As an MSTP student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, receiving both a medical degree and a PhD in biomedical engineering, Dr. Boyer invented a noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring technology that uses spectral analysis of venous pressure waveforms to assess patient fluid volume status. He licensed this Peripheral Intravenous Analysis (PIVA) technology to a device manufacturer. He then co-founded VoluMetrix, a medical diagnostic startup, which has won several awards and grants including FDA Breakthrough Device Designation. Boyer was awarded a Runway Startup Postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell Tech. His collaboration with Dr. Reed Omary led to the founding of the MIDP to train physician-innovators.

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Victoria Morgan, PhD

Professor of Radiology & Radiological Sciences
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Neurological Surgery
Professor of Neurology

Vicky Morgan, PhD brought a rich and varied history of expertise to the MIDP leadership team. As a member of the Vanderbilt Institute of Imaging Science with expertise in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), her primary interest is in clinical translational research to bring new imaging methods to patient care. Her projects have focused on patient care and developing new methods in health care.

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Cherie Fathy, MD

Cherie is a triple ‘Dore, having graduated from undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt and with an MD/MPH (2017). As a medical student, she started the organization Dunia Health, which worked to implement a text alert system in Amman, Jordan, with the United Nations. Dunia’s main project enabled the United Nations to send pre-appointment reminders to high-risk patients. The project is expanding to 137 UNRWA health facilities, reaching 3.1 million refugees by the end of 2016. Dr. Fathy moved to Philadelphia for her ophthalmology residency at the Wills Eye Hospital and recently completed her cornea, cataract, and refractive surgery fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. She works in Washington, D.C. at the Eye Doctors of Washington. She is passionate about the equitable representation of women in ophthalmology. The advice and thought that she put into the early days of MIDP impacted the new program and cemented a future of altruism in medical endeavors.