Mohamad Sawan, Fellow of the Royal Society of Sciences of Canada (FRSC), Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE), Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC), and Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (LFIEEE), is an internationally renowned scientist in the field of smart medical devices. He has made significant contributions in implantable and wearable medical devices based on smart microsystems. Professor Sawan received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Sherbrooke in 1990, was a postdoctoral fellow in Biomedical Engineering in McGill University in 1991, and was Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Full Professor from 1991 to 2018 in Polytechnique, the Engineering School of University of Montreal. Professor Sawan was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Smart Medical Devices from 2001 to 2015. He was Scientific Director of the multi-University Microsystems Strategic Alliance of Quebec (1999-2018). He was Co-Founder, Associate Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems from 2016 to 2019, and he is founder and Editor-in-Chief of the ELSP Neuroelectronics Journal.

Professor Sawan joined the School of Engineering of Westlake University as a Chair Professor in 2018. He is currently the Founder and Director of the Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies (CenBRAIN Neurotech) in Westlake University.

Professor Sawan is the founder of the flagship IEEE International NEWCAS conference and co-founder of the International IEEE-BioCAS and IEEE-AICAS Conferences. He hosted the 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) and the 2020 IEEE International Medicine, Biology and Engineering Conference (EMBC) as well as the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Circuits and Systems. He was vice-president of publications of the EEE Circuits and Systems Society.

His research interests encompass smart medical devices including brain-computer interface, biosensors and actuators, which involve microelectronics, microfluidics, nanophotonics, integrated circuits, microfabrication, energy harvesting, signal processing, wireless communication, microsystem Integration, assembly, packaging, and in vivo validation. Published over 1,000 papers, 25 monographs and book chapters, with more than 19,600 citations and an H-Index of 67. Consistently ranked among the world's top 2% most-cited scientists for multiple years.

The main academic achievements of Professor Sawan include:

a. Proposed a cortical implantable microsystem for vision recovery, which is intended to solve vision dysfunctions related to neural systems.

b. Proposed artificial sphincter and bladder implantable microsystem as novel and effective alternative solutions for patients with incontinence and micturation dysfunctions.

c. Proposed smart petri dish based on an array of capacitive sensors, for cell-based disease screening and drug-resistance analysis.

d. Proposed microsystems to locate the focus of epileptic seizures, and onset detect these seizures.  He is applying artificial intelligence technique to predict ahead of time the emergence of the seizures, then drug can be administered to avoid seizures. As a result, epileptic patients can have normal lives.

e. Proposed a combined EEG+fNIRS helmet-based system which can detect brain abnormalities within up to 2 cm of the cerebral cortex. It can be used to detect cortical changes due to the oxygenation rate variation of intracortical tissues.

f. Proposed several wireless power transfer mechanisms and energy scavenging systems (electromagnetic, thermal, optical and RF energy) for implantable microsystems. He proposed wireless links to simultaneously transfer energy and exchange data insuring reliable operation of miniaturized implantable medical devices.

Due to the above research accomplishments, Professor Sawan has been awarded many international awards, including Chinese National Government Friendship Award, Hangzhou Outstanding Talent Award, the Elizabeth II Jubilee Diamond Award, Lebanon Presidential Award, Barbara Turnbull Award, ACFAS - Jacques-Rousseau Award, J. A. Bombardier Award, Shanghai Municipal International Collaboration Award, Medal of Honor from the President of Lebanon for outstanding emigrant achievements, Top Ten Discoveries of the Year by Québec Science Magazine, and Officer of National Order of Quebec. 

[1] SAWAN, M., “Handbook of Biochips: Integrated Circuits and Systems for Biology and Medicine”, Springer, 2022, 1460 pages

[2] SAWAN M., YANG J., TARKHAN M., CHEN J., WANG M., WANG Ch., XIA F., CHEN Y., "Emerging Trends of Biomedical Circuits and Systems", Foundations and Trends in Integrated Circuits and Systems: Vol. 1: No. 4, 2021, pp. 217-411.

[3] SAWAN, M., SALAM, M.T., LELAN, J., KASSAB, A., GELINAS, S., VANNASING, P., LESAGE, F., NGUYEN, D., LASSONDE, M, “Wireless Recording Systems: From Non-Invasive EEG-NIRS To Invasive EEG Devices”, IEEE-Trans. on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, Vol. 7, No. 2, Apr. 2013, pp. 186-195.

[4] SAWAN, M., HASHEMI, S., SEHIL, M., AWWAD, F., HAJJ-HASSAN, M., KHOUAS, A., «Multi coils-based inductive links dedicated to power up implantable medical devices: modelling, design and experimental results» Biomedical Micro devices, Vol. 11, No. 5, October 2009, pp. 1059-1070.

[5] SAWAN, M., HU, Y., COULOMBE, J., “Wireless Smart Implants Dedicated to Multichannel Monitoring and Microstimulation”, Invited paper in IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine, Vol. 5, April 2005, pp. 21-39.