The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) will present William O'Brien, Jr, PhD, with the 2007 William J. Fry Award for his numerous contributions to the scientific progress of diagnostic medical ultrasound. The award will be presented at the 2007 AIUM Annual Convention on March 16, 2007, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City, New York.
Dr O'Brien was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1942 and received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in 1966, 1968, and 1970, respectively, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
From 1971 to 1975, he worked with the Bureau of Radiological Health (currently the Center for Devices and Radiological Health) of the US Food and Drug Administration. Since 1975, he has been at the University of Illinois, where he is the Donald Biggar Willet Professor of Engineering. He also is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Bioengineering, College of Engineering; Professor of Bioengineering, College of Medicine; Professor of Nutritional Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Professor of Speech and Hearing Science, College of Applied Life Studies; Research Professor in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; and Research Professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory. He is the director of the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, founded by the late William J. Fry. His research interests involve the many areas of acoustic- and ultrasound-tissue interaction, including biological effects and quantitative acoustic imaging, for which he has published 318 papers and has recently received a National Institutes of Health MERIT (R37) award.
Dr O'Brien is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Acoustical Society of America, and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), and is a founding fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He was recipient of the IEEE Centennial Medal (1984), AIUM Presidential Recognition Awards (1985 and 1992), the AIUM/World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) Pioneer Award (1988), the IEEE Outstanding Student Branch Counselor Award for Region 4 (1989), the AIUM Joseph H. Holmes Basic Science Pioneer Award (1993), and the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society Distinguished Lecturer (1997–1998). He received the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society's Achievement Award for 1998 and Distinguished Service Award for 2003 and the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000. He has served as cochair of the 1981, 2001, and 2003 IEEE Ultrasonic Symposia and general chair of the 1988 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. He has served as president (1982–1983) of the IEEE Sonics and Ultrasonics Group (currently the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society), editor-in-chief (1984–2001) of the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, president (1988–1991) of the AIUM and treasurer (1991–1994) of WFUMB, and on the Board of Directors (1988–1993) of the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine is a multidisciplinary association dedicated to advancing the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine through professional and public education, research, development of guidelines, and accreditation.