Welcome New Faculty Member: Dr. Harvinder Gill!

Welcome to the CBE Wolfpack, Dr. Harvinder Gill! He joins the department as the Ronald B. and Cynthia J. McNeill Term Professor in Nanomedicine beginning Fall 2024.

The Ronald B. and Cynthia J. McNeill Professorship in Nanomedicine and their associated Term Professorship was initiated by the McNeills in 2021.  Ronnie, a 1973 graduate in chemical engineering from State, with an M.B.A. from Georgia State University, is co-owner and Director of Liberty Healthcare, an experienced family-owned company that has been helping people manage their healthcare and residential needs for more than 145 years.  The family has had a long history of giving back in North Carolina to promote improvements in healthcare.  In particular, the McNeill Professorship has allowed the department to hire a distinguished, internationally recognized scholar in nanomedicine, which is the use of nanomaterials or nanotechnology for drug delivery, biosensors, bioactuators, diagnostics, and treatment. 

Gill received his B.E. in chemical engineering from Panjab University in 1994 and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. He has previously served as Professor and Whitacre Endowed Chair of Science and Engineering at Texas Tech University. In addition to joining our faculty, he will have a joint appointment with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and will work closely with UNC-CH researchers in the Food Allergy Initiative and the Adams School of Dentistry. 

Gill’s research laboratory performs fundamental and translational research in the fields of drug delivery, vaccines, immunotherapy, and nanomedicine to help address some of the pressing biomedical challenges facing human health. His research integrates the knowledge and tools from various disciplines including engineering, chemistry, biology, immunology, recombinant engineering, and micro-nano-technology.  In the spirit of NC State’s Think and Do mentality, Prof. Gill’s work has resulted in three start-up companies, and he is a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).  Other prestigious honors include the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award and the DARPA Young Faculty Award.

Prof. Sindee Simon, Head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering notes, “NC State is very well recognized as a leader in biomanufacturing, biosensors, and biomolecular engineering.  Prof. Gill’s hire extends CBE’s expertise to nanomedicine and drug delivery and takes advantage of State’s highly regarded bioengineering and veterinary medicine programs, as well as strengths in medicine and dentistry at UNC Chapel Hill.” 

We are very excited to welcome Prof. Gill to the department and look forward to his leadership in growing collaborations across many programs.