Rate My Professor Teja Guda

Teja Guda, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor in the Engineering faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), holding the Jacobson Distinguished Professorship of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. As Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering within the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design, he also serves as Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Associate Dean for Research for the college, and Program Director for Biomedical Technology Commercialization. Prior to his faculty appointment, Guda completed his postdoctoral training in regenerative medicine at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the US Army Institute of Surgical Research. He earned a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from UTSA and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2008.

Guda's academic interests center on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, including cell and drug delivery systems, medical device design and development, the interplay between biophysical and biochemical stimuli, mechanical modeling of biological tissues, matrix mechanics, and bioreactors for musculoskeletal regeneration. He directs the Regenerative Medicine and Device Innovation (ReMeDI) Laboratory at UTSA, mentoring four graduate students and sixteen undergraduates. With 74 peer-reviewed publications garnering 1,905 citations and an h-index of 22, his influential works include "Current trends in dental implants" (2014, Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, 692 citations), "Design and characterization of a novel chitosan/nanocrystalline calcium phosphate composite scaffold for bone regeneration" (2009, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 255 citations), "Femoral Suspension Devices for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Do Adjustable Loops Lengthen?" (2014, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 200 citations), and "Improving bone formation in a rat femur segmental defect by controlling bone morphogenetic protein-2 release" (2011, Tissue Engineering Part A, 192 citations). Guda has received numerous accolades, such as National Academy of Inventors Senior Member (2024), UTSA Innovator of the Year (2023), NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program award (2019), Young Innovator Award in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (2020), and the Richard S. Howe Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award (2018). Additionally, he contributes to UTSA's innovation ecosystem as assistant director of the Center for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship since 2014 and founder of the Roadrunner Innovation Lab in 2015.