Dongfang Wang, M.D., and Joseph Zwischenberger, M.D., faculty members with the UK Department of Surgery, were among 23 physicians and research scientists that the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) named to its inaugural Fellows class.
The ASAIO is an interdisciplinary, international society of research scientists, biomedical engineers, and physicians whose work focuses on artificial organ and mechanical circulatory support research and development. ASAIO established the fellow’s program to recognize members who have "demonstrated exceptional achievement and sustained professional contributions" in the field. ASAIO selected them for a FASAIO degree in recognition of their decades of groundbreaking work!
Over the last 26 years, Wang and Zwischenberger have been pioneers in the development of medical devices that have revolutionized the use and efficacy of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), artificial lung, and cardiac assist technology. In the process, they have been awarded five US patents, most notably a double lumen cannula (AvalonElite) that enabled ECMO patients to be ambulatory to improve respiratory failure and lung transplant outcomes.
Wang continues to push further into the field as Director of the University of Kentucky Artificial Organ Laboratory. In 2024, his lab was the recipient of an R01 research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a cardiac assist device to support patients with a single ventricle heart defect.
Zwischenberger continues to pioneer workplace-based assessments in medical education and the application of perfusion induced systemic hyperthermia in the treatment of advanced unresponsive cancer patients and post treatment Lyme disease.