Barton Joins SPIE Presidential Chain

BME professor Jennifer Barton has been elected to serve as the 2022 vice president of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. With her election, Barton joins the SPIE presidential chain, and will serve as president-elect in 2023 and as the Society's president in 2024. Barton also holds appointments as a professor of optical sciences and director of the BIO5 Institute. 

Barton is known for her development of miniature endoscopes that combine multiple optical imaging techniques, particularly optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy. Her research into light-tissue interaction and dynamic optical properties of blood laid the groundwork for a novel therapeutic laser to treat disorders of the skin's blood vessels. She has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal papers in these research areas.

Barton has a long history with SPIE, including serving on its Board of Directors and on various committees including the Engineering, Science, and Technology Policy Committee and the Membership & Communities Committee. She serves as symposium co-chair of SPIE Photonics West BiOS, and as session chair for the European Conferences on Biomedical Optics. Barton's awards include the 1997 DJ Lovell Scholarship and the 2016 SPIE President's Award. Barton is part of the University of Arizona's legacy of service to SPIE,  with past presidents including John Greivenkamp, Eustace Dereniak, Jack Gaskill, James Wyant and Robert Shannon.

"I am honored and enthusiastic to serve as SPIE's next Vice President, and to to join this chain of esteemed Arizona faculty serving as SPIE president," said Barton. "SPIE has been vital to my career in industry and academia and is a tremendous source of inspiration and collaboration for myself and my trainees. I look forward to helping SPIE become even more inclusive as we leverage the lessons learned from a year of remote content delivery, and continue to provide outstanding value to constituents with exciting events, great services, and cutting-edge digital content."