Sheldon Weinbaum

Emeritus CUNY Distinguished Professor of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering. Widely recognized for novel biomechanical models that changed existing views in such areas as bone fluid flow and mechanotransduction, vulnerable plaque rupture (principal cause of cardiovascular death), the role of the endothelial (how bone cells sense mechanical forces) glycocalyx in initiating intracellular signaling, microvascular fluid exchange, endothelial transport aspects of arterial disease, glomerular-tubular balance in the renal tubule, and bioheat transfer (Weinbaum-Jiji bioheat equation). In each case he resolved a long standing mystery by discovering either a new structure, e.g. micro-calcifications in the fibrous caps of vulnerable lesions or leaky junctions for transport of LDL across vascular endothelium, or a new function for a known structure, e.g., by demonstrating that the glycocalyx on endothelial cells senses fluid shear stress of blood flow and transmits it to the intracellular cytoskelton. He is a pioneering advocate for women and minorities in engineering, and science. He is also a member of the National Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine.