Banu Onaral, pioneering biomedical engineer and innovative professor at Drexel, has died at 75
She established Drexel’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems in 1997, and served as its first director and graduate school professor.
Banu Onaral, 75, of Philadelphia, pioneering biomedical engineer, innovative H.H. Sun Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Drexel University, celebrated international scientific collaborator, and mentor, died Tuesday, Dec. 17, of lymphoma at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Dr. Onaral earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 and spent 43 years, beginning in 1981, at Drexel. She was a prolific researcher, a popular professor, and an expert in biomedical information engineering.
She was naturally collegial and so adept at connecting scientific innovators and medical entrepreneurs around the world that she formed dozens of research, clinical, and academic partnerships in Turkey, China, India, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere. Colleagues said she “paved the way for groundbreaking advancements in health-care technology.”
She established Drexel’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems in 1997, and served as its first director and graduate school professor. She also founded Drexel’s Global Innovation Partnerships program and became its presidential adviser and director of innovation in 2014.
“We’re becoming a global economy,” she said in a Drexel video, “and our students, they truly need on-the-ground experience.”
Much of her own research focused on biomedical signal processing, functional optical brain imaging, and their health-care applications. She created laboratories around the world and organized international conferences and scientific panels.
A colleague said in a tribute: “Working just doors away from Banu was like being near a fusion reactor of ideas and possibilities.”
“She believed in the power, energy, and creativity of youth.”
She published dozens of scientific papers and articles, edited several biomedical publications, and even shared her own experiences as a cancer patient to help clinicians and researchers understand that circumstance. Drexel colleagues said in a tribute that she “will be remembered not only for her transformative contributions to biomedical engineering and global innovation but also for her generosity as a mentor, her visionary leadership, and her enduring dedication to improving human health and well-being.”
She supervised thousands of graduate students and helped establish the Coulter-Drexel Translational Research Partnership with nine other universities. “She will always be a role model to me,” a former student said in a tribute, “not just for her work, but for the spirit with which she approached it.”
Her son, Mutlu, said: “She loved her students most.”
She visited high schools for Drexel’s outreach program, Girls’ Opportunities in Engineering and Science, and told The Inquirer in 1995: “If even one of them learned about engineering today and chooses it as a career, then it will have been a successful trip.” In 1997, she was featured in a newspaper ad for Drexel’s new School of Biomedical Engineering and said: “This is a fantastically exciting time to be at Drexel.”
“An outstanding thinker and professional, Dr. Onaral was an exceptional human and a marvelous friend.”
She served on boards and in many organizations, and was a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was past president of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and the Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association.
“Her transformative contributions to science, innovation, and education leave an enduring legacy,” colleagues at the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society said in a tribute. Colleagues at the Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association said: “Her visionary contributions, compassionate mentorship, and unwavering pursuit of innovation will remain a guiding light for future generations of scientists and scholars.”
She earned the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, the National Science Foundation Achievement Award, and other honors. She appeared in The Inquirer often and was featured in a 2005 article called “10 to Watch″ after she and a colleague developed a battery-operated screening device for breast cancer.
She gave a TED talk in Ankara, Turkey, and was named one of the 30 most influential Turkish American women in the United States by Turk of America magazine in 2015. “Her energy was boundless,” her son said. “She had commitment and passion for everything she did.”
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Banu Kum was born June 15, 1949. Her family nurtured her innate intellectual curiosity, and it was clear early that she was exceptional. She graduated from high school and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at what is now Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.
She met Ibrahim Onaral in college, and they married in 1973 and relocated to Philadelphia in 1974 when she started studies at Penn. They had son Mutlu and lived in West Philadelphia, Penn’s Landing, and Center City West.
Dr. Onaral enjoyed music, cooking, and movies. She read history books and talked deeply with family and friends about current events and life in general.
“She was always helping someone,” her husband said. “She was always looking out for other people.” Her son said: “She was an inspiration. She was one of a kind.”
In addition to her husband and son, Dr. Onaral is survived by two sisters and other relatives. A sister died earlier.
Services and a celebration of her life were held earlier.
Donations in her name may be made to the CYDD, the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life in Istanbul, Turkey, at [email protected]; and Drexel’s Professor Banu Onaral Endowed Fund for Global Innovation Partnerships, Box 8215, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101.