$10M Gift Propels New Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine

A $10 MILLION GIFT to the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) will launch a transformative collaboration to tackle a broad spectrum of health challenges and drive medical innovations that benefit patients in Maryland and beyond.

The Edward & Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine, named in honor of the benefactors, is being further supported by a $12.75 million grant from the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower).

The center will foster partnerships among clinicians at the University of Maryland School of Medicine at UMB and bioengineers at the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMCP.

“This collaboration will be one of the premier partnerships in the country that fully bridges the gap between engineering and medicine to rapidly accelerate solutions on public health, disease and wellness,” said UMCP President Darryll J. Pines. “Whether it is the invention of new devices and instruments or improved analysis, this center will be leading the way in advancing how clinicians work and how patients heal.”

The MPower grant will support research and education as well as new offices, labs and faculty at CTEM, a state-of-the-art shared space at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore. MPower is a state initiative that leverages the complementary strengths of UMB and UMCP to pursue research and impact that surpasses what each institution could do independently.

Edward St. John ’61 earned an engineering degree at UMCP and went on to become a noted Baltimore-based business leader and philanthropist. He previously gave $10 million to help build the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center on the UMCP campus. This new gift will establish endowed and current-use professorships in bioengineering, undergraduate and graduate student awards in translational engineering and medicine, and ongoing operating funds for the center.

“It is our great pleasure to support this transformational, lifesaving and life-altering work, knowing that our contribution helps pave the way for groundbreaking discoveries that will improve and extend lives for years to come,” said Jennifer St. John.