Q&A: Chancellor’s Award Winner Christopher Tan

June 15, 2026 - Christopher Tan just graduated summa cum laude with a degree in biomedical engineering-premed from UC Irvine. He was president of the award-winning student chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a researcher in four labs and founder of the Neovi Medical startup, which won awards in the BioEngine and Beall Butterworth Competitions for its invention NeoFusion. We chat about what drove his inspiring achievements.

The Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) at UC Irvine won the Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Biomeedical Engineering Society. Tell us what’s great about the club.

It’s the people. BMES is the reason I came to UCI. When I was in high school, I reached out to board members and I saw that they had a lot of drive and wanted to do good in the world, to make an impact and save lives.

We do everything under the sun for student support – a mentorship program, industry networking nights, individual company nights, research symposiums getting undergrads into labs, helping first gen students do their resume, email professors, get hands-on experience building a medical device. We have a MedTech founders program that helped launch student teams for entering the Beall competition. It’s a collaborative environment

Congratulations on the top awards for NeoFusion. Tell us what the invention does.

It’s a syringe pump used for newborn patients that gradually administers IV fluids and baby formula. This is essential to giving lifesaving care to newborns.  We took the electronic syringe pump and made it into a fully mechanical system so it could work anywhere in the world without electricity. We aim for it to last 250,000 cycles. We made a prototype and have been testing it with different syringes and speeds. Like a metronome, it uses a weight to change how fast it infuses fluid.

You were in four clubs, four labs, got excellent grades and founded an award-winning startup. Any insights into how to be so productive?

When you’re starting off on your journey, just say yes to everything. No one knows what they want to do. If you find the things that really inspire you, then you’re willing to give 150%. In my freshman year, I joined 42 clubs. I found BMES and ASUCI and went all in, and met Professor Christine King. Because I love what I do, sometimes I’m CADing till 4 a.m. for fun. As the fab lab manager, I manage fabrication space for the biomedical engineering department so I got involved with four labs.

Chasing your passion is the number one thing. Two, be selective in experiences that grow you and your skillset as a person, and also the people around you who want you to succeed. A lot of it is me wanting to make the most of my life and do the best I can for this world.

Who has made a positive impact on your life?

Professor Christine King is my closest mentor. She deeply cares about all her students. She spends about 18 hours a week in office hours. There’s a reason BME students voted to name her Best Mentor and Best Professor of the Year. Elliot Botvinick, the original principal investigator who launched Neovi Medical, also had a great impact on me.

What’s your next goal?

I’m going to University of Colorado to get an M.D.-Ph.D. in bioengineering and then I want to come back to UC Irvine. Faculty encouraged me to go to different places for training.

I want to make medical devices more equitable, perhaps in underdeveloped countries. My goal is to create something that can save 10,000 lives. Physicians can save an average of 1,500 lives over a career. By creating a device, you can scale it. I want to be a physician and engineer — a “physicianeer.”

What are you going to miss most about California and UCI?

All the amazing mentors and people I’ve met. I hope to come back to UCI and/or UCI Health as faculty and/or for my residency.

How would you describe yourself?

A chill and friendly guy. I want people to remember me as someone who cared a lot about those around him and celebrated their successes.

What do you do in your free time?

Hobbies are important for life and balance. I love to rock climb, do photography and hang out with friends.

Any words for younger students?

You can do it. I was so confused and lost at the start too. Just by trying different things and meeting amazing people, I was able to get where I am today.

- Natalie Tso