Personal Profile – Martin Nieuwoudt

Brief track record

Martin Nieuwoudt has degrees in Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pretoria (UP). From 2002 until 2011 Martin worked as a Researcher and Manager for a Tissue Engineering and Molecular Biology Lab located in the Dept of Immunology at UP. The flagship project of that lab and the subject of his PhD was Bioartificial Liver (BAL) Technology, which resulted in a Medical Device product. In the latter part of his time at UP Martin’s role evolved into that of a Project Commercialisation Officer. From 2011 to 2017 Martin was employed as a Modelling Researcher at SACEMA at Stellenbosch University (SU). His studies there focused on merging Mathematical models with empirical Biomarker data for the Immune system in states of Health and Disease. This was to improve Statistical methodologies and to inform Public-health decision-making regarding Anti-retroviral treatment outcomes. At SU he also furthered his education in the Commercialisation of Intellectual Property and Strategic Management.

Presently, he is the Director for the IBE. The IBE enjoys broad-based institutional support in SU. BME is intrinsically inter-disciplinary and requires a team for success. However, in SU BME has historically not been available as a post-graduate degree direction for Scientists and Medical graduates, only as a research direction within Engineering. For this reason, an important mandate of the IBE is to develop new BME degrees in SU. Additional mandates include the consolidation of disparate BME efforts across SU, initiating new research programs both locally and internationally, synchronizing with the Medical Devices Industry and Government in Southern Africa, commercializing products arising from these efforts and, from all of the above, developing a long-term sustainable Business model. Martin’s mission is to scale up these efforts going forward.