Denis Wirtz

Denis Wirtz is the vice provost for research and Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor of Engineering Science at Johns Hopkins University. He is an expert in the molecular and biophysical mechanisms of cell motility and adhesion and nuclear dynamics in health and disease.

Wirtz was the first to establish how a three-dimensional environment fundamentally affects the way cancer cells migrate, providing more biologically and medically relevant information than two-dimensional studies. He also pioneered the technique of particle-tracking microrheology to probe the rheological properties of complex fluids and living cells and tissues. He is a professor in the Departments of Chemical Engineering & Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering, and in the Departments of Oncology and Pathology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Wirtz was named vice provost for research in February 2014, charged with directing the university's $2.24 billion research enterprise, implementing institutional research compliance, expanding research development, and producing and managing cross-divisional research initiatives, such as the Johns Hopkins Catalyst and Discovery Awards program, the President's Frontier Award program, and the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships, which were established as part of a $350 million gift by Michael Bloomberg. Provided by Wikipedia