Mark CohenMark Cohen, the Dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, has accepted a part-time faculty appointment at the Beckman Institute. He will conduct research in the Extracellular Vesicle Imaging and Therapy Working Group within the Integrative Imaging research theme, and will collaborate with investigators in the Molecular Design and Engineering Working Group. He is also the Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Carle Health.

Dean Cohen’s translational research program is focused in three key areas: (1) engineering novel cancer therapeutics targeting heat shock protein 90, its isoforms, and its heterochaperone complex as a safer and more efficacious anticancer approach; (2) utilizing nanoparticle drug-delivery systems to improve cancer drug delivery, bone fracture healing, and tissue repair; and (3) tissue engineering to develop functional endocrine organs (thyroid, parathyroid, pancreatic islet cells) from adipose tissue to cure chronic diseases such as hypothyroidism, hypoparathyroidism, and diabetes.