Richard Balbin
Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University
Richard Balbin is from Houston, Texas, and graduated magna cum laude with honors from Texas A&M University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering. As an undergraduate, Richard was inducted into Phi Kappa Pi and Tau Beta Pi honor societies and received both the Meloy Fellows Scholarship and the National Hispanic Recognition Scholarship.
During his time at Texas A&M, Richard co-founded ElastaScan after completion of the NSF I-Corps Site Program, an innovative device for detecting muscle stiffness in physical therapy patients. Focused on building a multidisciplinary team, his team’s work earned first place at Aggie Pitch and third place at the Texas A&M Ideas Challenge, raising over $35,000 in funding and winning the Innovation Excellence Award from the Center for Advancing Innovation.
Richard’s experience includes cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he worked on antibody therapies for anaplastic thyroid cancer. He further expanded his research horizons through a summer internship at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) in Barcelona, Spain, where he contributed to the development of an electrochemical lateral flow assay. He also contributed to research on a stem cell patch for myocardium repair in Dr. Feng Zhao’s Lab, co-authoring a publication. In addition, he served as Director of Risk Management for CARPOOL, helping provide thousands of safe rides to the Bryan/College Station community.
Richard chose EnMed because he values the program’s unique blend of engineering and medicine, and he’s excited to collaborate with peers and faculty at the Texas Medical Center to develop technologies that address real clinical needs. He hopes to use his engineering background to create solutions that improve patient care and make a meaningful impact in healthcare.
Outside of academics, Richard enjoys running, swimming, biking, weight lifting, and playing racquet sports. He also enjoys traveling, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends.
