Leigh Abts

In July of 2022, Dr. Leigh Abts retired from the University of Maryland (UMD) at College Park with a joint research appointment from the School of Engineering and the College of Education. His primary research efforts centered on the planning, development, implementation, and assessment of educational programs and research partnerships that incorporated engineering design concepts and practices utilizing a web-based application, MyDesign®.  Dr. Abts applied the knowledge and skills he acquired over a fifty-year career that encouraged and enabled the transfer of new ideas into practice. Starting with a successful launch of his graduate thesis through a Brown University start-up to detect micro-embolisms in blood during open-heart surgery that was followed on by the founding of the Johns Hopkins Institutions’ Triad Investment Corporation which was focused on transitioning research into commercial partnerships. Dr. Abts then assisted one entrepreneur full time to start a patient-based managed care company, FutureHealth® which was acquired by a Fortune 500 company. In his most immediate career transition, he joined the UMD led team that has evolved and expanded into the multi-grade and institutional MyDesign® effort.