Jonathan Posner is The Richard and Victoria Harrington Professor for Engineering Innovation in Health and a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Chemical Engineering. He is also adjunct in the Department of Family Medicine. Posner’s research is primarily focused on the development point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases (HIV, HCV) for use in low- and middle-income countries, precision medicine drug level measurements, and a wide range of medical devices. His previous areas of eclectic research include combustion diagnostics, electrokinetic fluid transport in microdevices, artificial nanomotors, the transport and toxicity of synthetic nanoparticles, fluidic fuel cells, and development of tactile skin for robotics.

Prof. Posner founded and served as Director (2013-2024) of the Engineering Innovation in Health program, an interdisciplinary academic program between the UW’s College of Engineering, School of Medicine, and Burke Center for Entrepreneurship that develops technical solutions to pressing unmet health needs. He led a team that developed and subsequently sold millions of cleaner burning biomass cookstove for East Africa that are twice as efficient and an order of magnitude cleaner than traditional three-stone fires that are currently in use. He has 27 patents and patent applications and has founded two companies: VICIS focused on a football helmet that reduces the risk of concussion (football’s safest helmet for the last 8 years), and Phoresa focused on point-of-care diagnostics. Dr. Posner is a recipient of the UW School of Medicine 2016 Inventor of the Year Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and recognized for his excellence in experimental research by the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium.