Roderic Pettigrew

Last year, Pettigrew became the inaugural dean of the Intercollegiate School of Engineering Medicine, which Texas A&M says will be the world’s first school to fully integrate medicine and engineering in a four-year curriculum. The “physicianeers” who complete the program will earn both M.D.s and master’s degrees in engineering. In short, they’ll be a little like Pettigrew, a physician and expert in magnetic resonance imaging, with degrees in physics and engineering. Pettigrew believes the interdisciplinary training will position graduates to devise novel ways to prevent, diagnose, and cure diseases.