Marian Hettiaratchi holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with a biomedical specialization from University of Calgary and a doctorate in biomedical engineering jointly from Georgia Tech and Emory University. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and will join the Knight Campus in January 2020. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto where her research focused on combining chemical and biomedical engineering approaches to create effective biomaterials that can precisely deliver proteins for tissue repair.

Her research approach combines expertise in chemical and biomedical engineering to design biomaterials to control protein delivery to injured tissues.The work involves developing protein delivery vehicles for regenerative medicine by integrating cutting-edge techniques in protein engineering, polymer chemistry, and computational modeling to design versatile, clinically-relevant biomaterials.

As an educator, Hettiaratchi said she enjoys bridging the gap between fundamental and translational knowledge to develop innovative healthcare technologies and educating the next generation of engineers and scientists to do the same. She is committed to developing initiatives to make science, engineering and math more accessible to students from underrepresented groups, by fostering inclusivity in the classroom and diversity in research.