Professor Brings Her Professional Industry Experience to the Classroom
After earning her Rutgers doctoral degree in biomedical engineering (BME) from the School of Engineering, Kristen Labazzo spent ten years at Celgene Cellular Therapeutics (CCT) before returning to Rutgers in 2015.
Today, she is a BME associate teaching professor and undergraduate director. At Celgene, she gained expertise in cutting-edge research involving biomaterials, stem cell biology, and tissue engineering and regeneration, becoming a principal scientist in cell therapy research before taking on her final role as scientific communications senior manager.
“Networking and knowing how to talk to people as a common theme for me,” she recalls. “I always knew I didn’t want to stay behind the bench my entire career.” Ultimately, a change in company direction gave her the opportunity she needed to redirect her career focus.
“BME distinguished professor Martin Yarmush gave me an opportunity to come back as executive director of the department’s Medical Device Development Center,” says Labazzo, who also holds an MBA in technology management from NJIT.
Eventually, her SoE role expanded to include teaching. She admits she was nervous to confront her first class. “My mom said to ‘just be you and it will go great.’ I cracked a joke the first day of class and the rest is history,” she remembers. “We had so much fun.”
Her success in the classroom was recognized by Rutgers in 2021, when she received a Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Innovations and when her students nominated her twice for the Engineering Governing Council’s BME Professor of the Year Award.
“I love interacting with my students. I throw my heart into my time with students,” she says. One of the ways she does this is by bringing real-world examples from industry into the classroom.
“I teach a core foundational materials class, so I always try to connect to real-world experience, which is something I might not have thought to do if I hadn’t had industry experience,” she says. “I give one lecture focused on industry and pepper the class with examples.”
An active mentor, Labazzo established an ongoing partnership with the Matheny Medical and Educational Center for children and adults with complex developmental disabilities in 2016. The collaboration includes an annual week-long immersion program for BME students as part of their senior design capstone project.
Labazzo, who chairs the Matheny School board, says, “The Matheny partnership was career-changing for me, as I’ve mentored more than 160 students in senior design over the years.”
A lifelong learner, Labazzo is excited to again tap into Rutgers’ many resources. “I’ll be starting my certificate in counseling this fall at Rutgers School of Health Professions and eventually hope to get a license,” she says.
“As BME undergraduate director, I want to have the tools to better understand and support the student body. I like to speak different languages — and would like this knowledge in my tool kit to be more cognizant and helpful.”
