Buddy D. Ratner is the Director of University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials (UWEB21) Engineering Research Center, co-director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation (CDI) and the Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization. He is Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Washington. Ratner received his Ph.D. (1972) in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), AVS, AAAS, American Chemical Society, ACS-POLY and the International College of Fellows Biomaterials Science and Engineering. In 2002 Ratner was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, USA. He has been involved in the launch of seven companies and won numerous awards including the AVS Welch Award (2002), Society for Biomaterials Founders Award (2004), the BMES Pritzker Distinguished Lecturer Award (2008), the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal (2009), the Galletti Award (2011) the George Winter Award of the European Society for Biomaterials (2012) and the University of Washington School of Medicine Lifetime Innovator and Inventor Award (2014). He served as President of Society For Biomaterials in 1998 and AIMBE in 2002. His research interests include biomaterials, medical devices, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, biocompatibility, polymers, surface analysis and plasma thin film deposition.