Jindřich Kopeček

As of July 15, 2021, Kopeček has been cited over 35,000 times, with an h-index of 100, and I-10 index of 408.

He was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2011 for contributions to the design of hydrogel biomaterials and polymeric drug delivery systems. In 2018, he was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Finished high school at 16, Ph.D. at 25. Transfer of hydrogels to the clinics (1975), first clinical trials with polymer-drug conjugates designed in Kopeček lab in late 1990s. Trained numerous students and postdocs from many countries. President of the Controlled Release Society (1995–1996), inaugural Chair of the NIH Biomaterials and Biointerfaces Study Section (2003–2006). Frequent invited speaker at conferences, academic institutions, and companies worldwide.

Prior to his postdoctoral fellowship, Kopeček served as the research scientific officer for the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences from 1965 to 1967. He then served in the same capacity after his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Research Council of Canada until 1972, when he became the head of the Laboratory of Medical Polymers at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry from 1972 to 1980. Kopeček then became head of the Laboratory of Biodegradable Polymers until 1988. In 1986, Kopeček became co-director for the Center of Controlled Chemical Delivery of Utah and was a visiting professor. From 1989, he was professor of bioengineering and professor of pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry. As of 2002, Kopeček has been a Distinguished Professor in both Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering. In 2017, he became the director for the Center of Controlled Chemical Delivery at the University of Utah.

Kopeček graduated with his M.S. in macromolecular chemistry from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1961. He then received his Ph.D. in macromolecular chemistry from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague in 1965. In 1967, Kopeček pursued postdoctoral studies at the National Research Council of Canada in the Division of Applied Chemistry in Ottawa. In 1990 Kopeček received his D.Sc. in chemistry from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. During his time in graduate school, he was mentored by professors Drahoslav Lim and Otto Wichterle, who invented hydrogels and created soft contact lenses. Kopeček received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki in Finland in 2014.