Dr. Gdowski is the IEEE Region 1 Director and is a member of the IEEE, IEEE-USA, and IEEE-MGA Boards of Directors. He has worked in the academic research, industry, and incubation settings. He served on the faculty in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester from 2001-2010 where he established a NIH-funded research laboratory in vestibular sensory processing. From 2010-2012, he worked at Blue Highway located at Syracuse University, where he managed medical device ideation, invention, incubation, and innovation opportunities for Welch Allyn. In 2012, he returned to the University of Rochester and serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Medical Technology & Innovation. The Center manages a MS program in Biomedical Engineering and coordinates educational and entrepreneurial activities related to the development of novel technological solutions to clinical problems.
His journey began in 1973 in Taunton, MA; within a business that his family started to manufacture silicone medical products including some of the first silicone urinary catheters, and wound drains on the market. Since that time, he has helped to innovate products in many different surgical specialties within his roles at the University of Rochester and Blue Highway/Welch Allyn. He has served on study sections for five different NIH Institutes; many focused on biotechnology commercialization. As a NIH Study Section Chair, he has led diverse committees of scientists, clinicians, engineers and entrepreneurs tasked in reviewing SBIR and STTR biotechnology-focused commercialization grants. He has taught classes on biotechnology commercialization including identifying unmet clinical needs, technological evaluation, market and intellectual property landscapes, ideation, voice of the customer methodology, user centric design, risk analyses (ISO 14971), human factors (HE75), product development and quality systems (ISO 13485). Many of his former students are employed as clinical specialists, product development engineers, R&D engineers, quality engineers and regulatory specialists.
He is an AAMI Fellow and a professional member of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu. He is currently the Past President of the Rochester Engineering Society. He also served on the Board of Directors of MedTech (an association of over 100 Upstate New York biotechnology manufacturers, research institutions, allied professional services and economic development organizations).