Murphy receives WARF named professorship

William Murphy, a professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedics and rehabilitation, is among the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty members to receive a named professorship through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The honor, which comes with $100,000, is designated for faculty who have made major contributions to the advancement of knowledge, primarily through their research endeavors, but also because of their teaching and service activities. Award recipients choose the names associated with their professorships.

Murphy chose the Cathy A. Rasmussen Professorship in remembrance of his late colleague with the UW-Madison-based Forward BIO Institute. Rasmussen died in 2022.

Murphy also holds the Harvey D. Spangler Professorship in Biomedical Engineering. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Illinois Wesleyan University and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan, before completing a postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry at the University of Chicago.

Over the past 22 years at UW-Madison, his research group has developed new classes of biomimetic materials inspired by nature, and used their materials to engineer new medical devices, human cells, and human tissues. He has authored over 200 publications, filed over 50 patents, and co-founded 4 start-up companies. Murphy was co-director of the UW Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center from 2011 until 2018 and founding director of the Forward BIO Institute from 2018-2025.

Since 2025, he has served as founding director of the Badger Tech Foundry, which catalyzes innovation in research, entrepreneurship and training, and pushes groundbreaking technologies out of academia and into the private sector. He is an inducted member of the National Academy of Inventors and an elected fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Murphy has trained over 50 PhD students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to impactful careers in academia, medicine, and the biotech industry.

Eight faculty from across the UW-Madison campus were awarded 2026-27 WARF Named Professorships.