Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, Dr. Gerald Pollack is an international leader in the field of cell function, specializing in muscle contraction and motility. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. Since then, his research interests have ranged broadly from cardiac dynamics and electrophysiology to muscle contraction, cell biology, and more recently to the role of water in nature.

Professor Pollack has earned many distinctions, including the highest faculty honor bestowed by his university.

• Tau Beta Pi Kulka Award, 1961; Eta Kappa Nu Kulka Award, 1961
  Polytechnic Institute Merit Key; Engineering Honor Societies (Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi)
  Established Investigatorship, American Heart Association, 1974-79
  Who's Who in America; American Men and Women in Science; Who’s Who in the World
  Board of Directors, Bioengineering Society, 1977-79;  Cardiovascular-Pulmonary Study Section, March, 1979, 1980
  Editorial Boards: J. Mol. & Cell Cardiol., 1975-80, Am. J. Physiol. (Heart and Circ Physiol), 1975-80; Circ. Research, 1982-1989; and Cell Biology International, 2005-  ; Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics, 2007-
  Honorary member, Romanian Muscle Society, 1992
  Excellence Award, Society for Technical Communication, 1992 (for book, Muscles & Molecules)
  Founding Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, 1993
  Consultant, Whitaker Foundation, 1996-2006
  JSEM Scientific Paper Award, 1998
  Fellow, American Heart Association, 2001
  Inaugural Fellow, Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, AHA, 2001
  Invited Scholar, Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, Paris, 2002
  Distinguished Lecturer Award, Biomedical Engineering Society, 2002
  International Scientist of the Year (IBC), 2002 
  Honorary Doctorate, Ural State University, Ekaterinburg Russia, 2002
  Distinguished Award, Society for Technical Communication (for book, Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life) , 2003
  Merit Award, International STC competition for book, above, 2003.
  Chair (joint, founding), Gordon Research Conference on “Interfacial Water in Cell Biology” 2004.
  Honorary Professor, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2005
  Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society, 2005
  National Science Board Task Force for Transformative Research, Advisor, 2005-2006
  Inaugural Chair, Annual Conference on the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology of Water, 2006, 2007.
  Annual Award Lectureship, University of Washington, 2007/2008, (selected among all faculty).
  
  

Professor Pollack is in demand internationally as a catalytic lecturer.

In his spare time in Seattle, he enjoys gardening, cooking, skiing, and ruminating on subjects as diverse as the origin of weather, the molecular basis of brain function, and solving the world's environmental crises (water, energy).  He has been known to build ponds, harpsichords, and treehouses.