Dr. Kyriacos (Kerry) Athanasiou is the Director of the SCIB’s  Human Tolerance Research Domain; as befits his research interest in tissue engineering of cartilage, cytomechanics, and biomechanics, Dr. Athanasiou also is conducting research on the Effects of Impact Loading on Articular Cartilage under the auspices of the SCIB.  A Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Dr. Athanasiou has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2000 Presidential Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society, the 1995 William J. Stickel Silver Award for Research in Podiatric Medicine and the 1993 William J. Stickel Gold Award for Research in Podiatric Medicine.  He is active in many professional organizations, serving both as officer and as conference organizer.  Well-respected in his field, he is a peer reviewer for 11 journals and serves on the editorial board of three journals.

Dr. Athanasiou graduated summa cum laude from the New York Institute of Technology in 1984 before pursuing graduate work at Columbia University, where he received an MS degree in 1985, followed by a PhM and a PhD in 1988.  He is a Professor at the Institute of Biosciences and Engineering at Rice University, where he directs and conducts research in the Musculoskeletal Bioengineering Laboratory.  Athanasiou also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas Houston, in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the Dental School and in Orthopaedics in the Medical School. 

He has published more than 300 papers, book chapters, abstracts and conference proceedings, and holds 22 patents.  In addition, he is active in mentoring young researchers, having supervised nearly 100 post-doctoral fellows, residents, PhD and MS candidates, and medical students, as well as numerous undergraduate and high school students.