A Career on the Edge: In Pursuit of Entropy on the Surface Four Decades Studying Degradation in Metallic Biomaterials and Medical Devices

Metallic Biomaterials are a critical class of materials used in a wide array of medical devices. Primary reasons for use include as biomechanical structures such as orthopedic implants, electrical devices such as cardiac pacemakes and electrical stimulators, and drug delivery surfaces such as drug eluting vascular stents. The surface of the metallic biomaterial plays a critical role in its performance. Degradation at the metallic surface and/or electrochemical control of the implant surface are factors that impact how the implant performs. In this presentation I will discuss degradation processes and electrochemical processes in hip and knee implants in four different areas that include mechanically assisted crevice corrosion of hip and knee implants, the role of electrochemistry on cell viability, damage arising iatrogenically from the use of electrosurgical blades in proximity to metal surfaces and I will present some recent work on the degradation of Ti-6Al-4V and CoCrMo surfaces using fundamental laboratory methods including electrochemical atomic force microscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Dr. Gilbert is the Hansjörg Wyss Smart State Endowed Chair for Regenerative Medicine, Professor of Bioengineering at Clemson University and Director of the Clemson – Medical University of South Carolina Bioengineering Program. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research – Part B: Applied Biomaterials (2009-2025), and past President of the Society for Biomaterials (2011-2012). Dr. Gilbert is a Fellow of the International Union of Societies of Biomaterials Science and Engineering, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers and was elected to the Hip Society. He received the Society For Biomaterials Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature in 2025. He Founded the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute at Syracuse University and was selected as member of the Medical Devices Committee of the Food and Drug Administration. He founded the Syracuse Biomaterials Company, LLC, a biomaterials consulting company. Dr. Gilbert is an internationally recognized expert on the metallurgy, corrosion and tribocorrosion of orthopedic implant alloys used in total joint prostheses. He has published over 240 peer-reviewed manuscripts or book chapters, 330 conference transactions, and holds 16 patents with four more pending. He received a BS in Engineering Science from SUNY at Buffalo in 1981, and a ME degree (1983) and concurrent PhD degrees (1987) in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Gilbert was an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Departments of Biological Materials and Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University (1988-1999). Then, Syracuse University recruited him as Professor and he became Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering before joining Clemson in 2017.