Bruce J. Tromberg earned a BA in chemistry and psychology in 1979 from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and a PhD in chemistry in 1988 from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. While completing his PhD, he conducted research as a Department of Energy pre-doctoral fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Currently, he is Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at National Institutes of Health, a post he assumed in January 2019. Previously, he held dual appointments as professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery at the University of California at Irvine (UCI). He also directed UCI’s Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic, an interdisciplinary research, teaching and clinical center for optics and photonics in biology and medicine.

In his 30-plus-year academic and scientific career, Tromberg conducted extensive NIH-supported research, and was the principal investigator (PI) for multiple NIH grants. This includes 20 years as PI for the Laser Microbeam and Medical Program (LAMMP), an NIH National Biomedical Technology Resource Center where several cutting-edge technologies have been developed and disseminated to laboratories and clinics around the world. In addition to advisory committee appointments with numerous national and international entities, Tromberg provided expertise on NIH working groups, review committees, and boards, including the NIBIB National Advisory Council from 2012-2016.

Tromberg's research spans biophotonics and biomedical optics, two rapidly growing fields that use light to image and conduct therapy at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. He has co-authored more than 450 publications and holds 18 patents for biophotonics technologies and their applications in areas such as cancer, neuroscience, and vascular disease. He specializes in new technology development as well as the “bench to bedside” clinical translation, validation and commercialization of promising methods designed to improve human health.

Tromberg received the 2015 Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award for his work “as an advocate for and leader of the Biophotonics Community and for pioneering the development and clinical application of spatially and temporally modulated light imaging.” He was elected a Fellow of the Society in 2016.