Tuan Vo-Dinh is R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Chemistry, and Director of the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics at Duke University. Dr. Vo-Dinh completed high school education in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and pursued studies in Europe where he received a B.S. in physics in 1970 from EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne), Lausanne and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1975 from ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Zurich, Switzerland. Before joining Duke University in 2006, Dr. Vo-Dinh was Director of the Center for Advanced Biomedical Photonics, Group Leader of Advanced Biomedical Science and Technology Group, and a Corporate Fellow, one of the highest honors for distinguished scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His research has focused on the development of advanced technologies for the protection of the environment and the improvement of human health. His research activities involve nano-biophotonics, nanosensors, laser spectroscopy, molecular imaging, medical theranostics and photoimmunotherapy.Dr. Vo-Dinh has authored over 500 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is the author of a textbook on spectroscopy and editor of 8 books. Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), he holds over 58 U.S. and international patents. Dr. Vo-Dinh has received seven R&D 100 Awards for Most Technologically Significant Advance in Research and Development for his pioneering research and inventions of innovative technologies. He has received the Gold Medal Award, Society for Applied Spectroscopy (1988); the Languedoc-Roussillon Award (France) (1989); the Scientist of the Year Award, ORNL (1992); the Thomas Jefferson Award, Martin Marietta Corporation (1992); two Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer, Federal Laboratory Consortium (1995, 1986); the Inventor of the Year Award, Tennessee Inventors Association (1996); and the Lockheed Martin Technology Commercialization Award (1998), The Distinguished Inventors Award, UT-Battelle (2003), and the Distinguished Scientist of the Year Award, ORNL (2003). In 1997, Dr. Vo-Dinh was presented the Exceptional Services Award for distinguished contribution to a Healthy Citizenry from the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Vo-Dinh received the 2017 Award for Spectrochemical Analysis from the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the 2019 Sir George Stokes Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry (United Kingdom).
