In the 1960s, Dr. C. William Hall of Clemson University had a
vision: He imagined an exclusive group of scientists would come
together to communicate research findings and developments in
the field of biomaterials science. Through the work of numerous
people, especially many of those who gathered annually for the
meeting of the International Biomaterials Symposium, the Society
For Biomaterials (SFB) came to be. It served as a social and
professional community that would produce annual publications in
the field and be a catalyst for international bioengineering societies
and national student chapters.
The Society For Biomaterials stands on the shoulders of the
International Biomaterials Symposium and those of two giants in
our field, Dr. Hall and Dr. Samuel F. Hulbert. In 1969, Dr. Hall
shared with Dr. Hulbert his vision for forming a society that would
aid in the exchange of information related to biomaterials. Also in
that year, the International Biomaterials Symposium (first in a series
of symposia that would later be called the Annual International
Biomaterials Symposium) was held at Clemson University.
The sym
posium attracted 100 people, 17 of whom presented papers.
This meeting was characterized by in-depth interchange between
clinicians and engineers. At the conclusion of the meeting, Dr.
Hall “related his concern that unless there was some format for
the interchange of ideas between the biomaterials researchers,
significant progress would be slow in coming.” Dr. Hulbert later named
this the first mention of “the possibilities of the establishing of the
Society For Biomaterials (SFB).”
During the fifth annual international symposium in 1973, awards
for Clinical Biomaterial Research, Basic Biomaterial Research
and Contributions to Biomaterial Literature were given for the
first time. In 1974, following the Symposium’s meeting, the SFB
was legally instituted. The society named the annual awards “The
Clemson Awards.” Since the SFB’s founding, the selection of
awardees has been made by the Honors and Awards Committee of
the Society, which includes a Clemson faculty member as a nonvoting
committee member. The awards are presented each year at
the SFB Annual Meeting by the president of Clemson University or
his designee.
This year’s awardees were recognized at the
SFB Annual Meeting in April 2018 in Atlanta:
Clemson Award for Applied Research
Mark W. Grinstaff, Ph.D.
Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering
Boston University
Clemson Award for Basic Research
Jason A. Burdick, PhD
Department of Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania
Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature
J. Paul Santerre, PhD
Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering University of Toronto
