Professor Omer Inan has been appointed associate chair for Entrepreneurship and Strategic Initiatives in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), effective September 1, 2025. Inan succeeds Pamela Bhatti in the role and looks to further expand the School’s reach through innovation, commercialization, and industry engagement. 

“We are thrilled to have Omer step into this leadership role,” said Arijit Raychowdhury, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of ECE. “His experience launching successful ventures, deep industry connections, and commitment to translating research into real-world applications make him an ideal leader to guide our strategic initiatives and help faculty bring their innovations to life.” 

In this role, Inan will oversee initiatives that support faculty entrepreneurship, expand strategic collaborations, and position ECE as a leader in research-driven innovation. 

“I am passionate about helping our School broaden its impact on society, and specifically in fostering the connections between our world-class researchers and industry,” said Inan. “Through increasing start-up and technology licensing activities, ECE can play a tremendous role in amplifying the emerging entrepreneurship ecosystem in Atlanta.” 

Inan has actively engaged with nearly all of Georgia Tech’s available start-up resources for faculty founders, including VentureLab, Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), Biolocity, and CREATE-X.

As a professor in ECE since 2013, Inan has built a world-class research program, the Inan Research Lab, focused on medical-grade wearable sensing systems and applied AI for human health. His lab’s innovations have led to multiple successful commercialization efforts, including the founding of two startups: Cardiosense and Arthroba. 

Cardiosense, co-founded in 2020 with former Ph.D. student Andrew Carek, is a platform technology company for cardiovascular monitoring. The company has raised over $26 million in funding, received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, and was featured at the White House Demo Day for its CardioTag device, which recently received FDA 510(k) clearance. Inan has served as chief scientific officer (part-time) and board member, and the company continues to grow with several Georgia Tech alumni in key roles. 

In 2021, Inan co-founded Arthroba with former student and postdoctoral scholar Samer Mabrouk to commercialize wearable knee health monitoring technology developed in his lab. The venture has received support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as CREATE-X, VentureLab, and the GRA. It aims to help athletes and individuals with osteoarthritis prevent injuries and improve joint health. 

In addition to his start-up ventures, Inan has led commercialization efforts for technologies addressing pediatric IV infiltration. 

“I have found entrepreneurship and corporate engagement to be among the most exciting ways to bring our lab's inventions and technologies one step closer to realization,” Inan said. “I want to help other researchers share these same wonderful experiences, and in doing so build upon our already strong and vibrant community of innovators in ECE.” 

From 2009 to 2013, Inan served as chief engineer of Countryman Associates, where he led the design and development of professional audio products for the commercial market, including one that earned him a Technical Oscar (Academy Award for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). 

He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2021, he received the Institute of Bioengineering and Biosciences Diagnostic Entrepreneurship Award in recognition of his success in commercialization and translational research. 

Inan received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University.