Overview
Dr. Joanna Bertram is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University, where she leads research in medical robotics. Her work focuses on advancing the design, modeling, and control of robotic systems for medical applications.
At Duke, Dr. Bertram strives to foster an interdisciplinary approach to medical robotics by collaborating with the university's world-class clinical and academic communities to develop innovative, life-saving robotic systems.
Before joining Duke, Dr. Bertram earned her Ph.D. in Robotics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she conducted groundbreaking research in the Medical Robotics and Automation (RoboMed) Laboratory. Her work included the design and control of steerable needles and the development of a robotic guidewire with integrated shape and force sensing, measuring less than 1mm in diameter. She also holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering.
Dr. Bertram’s research contributions have been published in top-tier journals and conferences, including IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (T-MRB), IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH), and the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
Her lab invites motivated students and researchers to join in pioneering the next generation of medical robotic technologies.