PPC18 - Key Persons

Kimberly A. Chaffin

Job Titles:
  • Vice President, Bakken Fellow
Kim Chaffin is a Vice President, Bakken Fellow, and Technical Fellow in Corporate Research at Medtronic. Kim is a recognized expert in material thermodynamics and characterization, especially as it relates to structure-property relationships that govern long-term stability and performance. She serves as an advisor to the FDA's Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories where she is helping their polymers research as it relates to biostability, biocompatibility and alternative sterilization chemistries. Kim joined Medtronic in 1999, where she is a sought-out advisor to technology programs across the enterprise. Kim has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota (Advisor: Frank S. Bates) and master's and bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Minnesota. She is an inventor on 18 issued patents and an author on many peer-reviewed publications. In late 2016, Kim returned to Minneapolis after a four-year assignment in Switzerland. Kim's husband, Paul, is the President of Molex's Medical and Pharmaceutical Solutions business. Together they have two children, Cole, a master's student in Mechanical Engineering and Julia, a Chemical Engineering sophomore, both at the University of Michigan.

Michael Cunningham

Job Titles:
  • Professor in Chemical Engineering at Queen
Michael Cunningham is a Professor in Chemical Engineering at Queen's University, and is cross-appointed to the Department of Chemistry.

Prof Cyrille Boyer

Job Titles:
  • Australian Laureate Fellow
Prof Cyrille Boyer is an Australian Laureate Fellow, a full Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering, deputy-Head of School, and co-Director of Australian Centre for Nanomedicine at the University of New South Wales.

Ruth Heeger

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of Interdisciplinary Science at UCSB
Professor Craig J. Hawker is Clarke Professor and holds the Alan and Ruth Heeger Chair of Interdisciplinary Science at UCSB where he co-directs the California NanoSystems Institute and the Dow Materials Institute.