Future City News!
The announcement of the first of 4 Distinguished Alumni for 2019 has been released on Facebook today. The awardee is Brandon D’Aloiso who participated in 2007 with St. Thomas More School. See his impressive accomplishments:
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pghfuturecity
Future City Pittsburgh 2019
Distinguished Alumnus
Brandon D’Aloiso
Brandon D’Aloiso participated in the 2007 Future City Pittsburgh Competition with St. Thomas More School, supported by educator Gina Callahan and mentor Patricia Wattick.
Brandon received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Bioengineering in 2015 from the University of Pittsburgh and a Cardiovascular Perfusion Certificate from UPMC in 2017.
As an undergraduate researcher at Pitt he worked on multiple artificial lung devices for treatment of COPD, ARDS and other lung problems which is where he learned about Perfusion.
Brandon has published articles about cardiopulmonary bypass and permeability of polymer fibers used in respiratory assist devices. He also has a patent for a Cannula Stabilization Device for ambulatory ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation).
He currently works as a perfusionist at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – Presbyterian Hospital while pursuing a Master’s degree (M.S.) in Bioengineering at Pitt. Additionally, he serves as a co-director of a comprehensive ECMO training course for physicians to learn about this complex procedure.
Brandon Reflects on his Future City Experience:
“Future City was definitely a long time ago for me, but it feels like yesterday. Back in those days I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up, but going through the experience helped me to realize something in the engineering/problem solving field was for me. Working and presenting our project to engineers was a great experience and really allowed me to learn about the field. While I took a turn and ended up doing more medical engineering, Future City allowed me to learn what engineering was and practice some of those early skills that would later serve me in school and work. Even teamwork was something we learned in the building and development of our city. Overall it was a great experience with some of my best friends until this day.”