Jennifer Kehlet Barton, professor of biomedical engineering and optical sciences, and director of the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona, has been elected to serve as the 2022 vice president of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. With her election, Barton joins the presidential chain, and will serve as president-elect in 2023 and as the society’s president in 2024.

2021 president David Andrews, a professor at the University of East Anglia, made the announcement along with other SPIE election results at this year’s annual general meeting of the society on 2 August during SPIE Optics + Photonics. Terms begin on 1 January 2022.

Barton is known for her development of miniature endoscopes that combine multiple optical imaging techniques, particularly optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy. Her research into light-tissue interaction and dynamic optical properties of blood laid the groundwork for a novel therapeutic laser to treat disorders of the skin's blood vessels. She has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal papers in these research areas.

Barton has a long history with SPIE, including serving on its board of directors and on various committees including the Engineering, Science, and Technology Policy Committee and the Membership & Communities Committee. She serves as symposium co-chair of SPIE Photonics West BiOS, and as session chair for the European Conferences on Biomedical Optics. Barton's awards include the 1997 DJ Lovell Scholarship and the 2016 SPIE President’s Award.

“I am honored and enthusiastic to serve as SPIE’s next vice-president, and to enter the presidential chain,” said Barton. “SPIE has been vital to my career in industry and academia and is a tremendous source of inspiration and collaboration for myself and my trainees. I look forward to helping SPIE become even more inclusive as we leverage the lessons learned from a year of remote content delivery and continue to provide outstanding value to constituents with exciting events, great services, and cutting-edge digital content.”

Alongside Barton, Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, a professor at Vanderbilt University, will serve as the 2022 SPIE president.

Jason Mulliner, chief financial officer at Alluxa Inc., was elected to serve as the 2022 SPIE secretary/treasurer.

Four newly elected society directors will serve three-year terms from 2022 to 2024: Audrey Bowden from Vanderbilt University, Gong-Ru Lin from National Taiwan University, Allison Barto, director at Ball Aerospace, and Rebecca Fahrig from Siemens Healthcare.