Kristyn S Masters

Kristyn Simcha Masters is an American bioengineer who is professor and Chair of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Colorado Denver. She works as Director of the Anschutz Medical Campus Center. Her research looks to create tissue-engineered models of disease, with a focus on cancer and cardiac disease.

Early life and education Masters studied chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She moved to Rice University for her doctorate, where she studied pharmacologically active materials for nitric oxide therapy. She moved to the University of Colorado Boulder for postdoctoral research.

Research and career Masters joined the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004, where she developed tissue-engineered models of disease, with a focus on cancer and heart disease. To do this, she studied the interactions between cells and biomaterials, investigating how the cellular microenvironment impacts cell behavior. She was made the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in 2016.

Masters moved to the University of Colorado Denver in 2023, where she was made Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Director of the Anschutz Medical Campus Center.

Awards and honors

2008 American Society for Engineering Education Biomedical Teaching Award 2008 Outstanding New Educator Award2016 H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellow 2018 Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering

Selected publications