Groundbreaking diabetes management tool wins national Russ Prize

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE), together with Ohio University, announced today that Ian A. Shanks, University of Glasgow, is the 2025 recipient of the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize. The $500,000 award, provided from Ohio University through a gift from the Russ family, recognizes an outstanding bioengineering achievement in widespread use that improves the human condition. Shanks is recognized “for the invention of the electrochemical capillary fill device (eCFD), which gives diabetes patients and caregivers accurate and timely blood glucose measurements for diabetes management.”

Diabetes is one of the fastest-growing global health challenges of the 21st century, and Shanks’ remarkable bioengineering achievement offers a groundbreaking approach to managing it. The eCFD is an innovative type of glucose monitor that requires only a small sample of blood from a fingerstick, making it possible to achieve accurate glucose monitoring on a personal basis. Shanks’ widely adopted invention eliminates the need for arm blood draws at laboratory facilities, providing a quick, accurate, inexpensive, and simple way to measure blood glucose levels for diabetes diagnosis or management.

“Ian Shanks revolutionized blood glucose measurement with his invention of electrochemical capillary fill device technology, significantly advancing care for millions of people worldwide who have diabetes,” said NAE President John Anderson. “This innovation exemplifies the collaborative power of using engineering principles in modern medicine.”

“It is an honor to support Dr. Shanks’ incredible work through the Russ Prize,” said Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “This year’s award is particularly meaningful to us as a national research institution situated in the Appalachian region, where the prevalence of diabetes surpasses national averages. The eCFD exemplifies the potential impact of the interdisciplinary translational research we are working to foster at OHIO’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology and Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.”

Fritz Russ, B.S.E.E. ’42, H.O.N. ’75, established the Russ Prize in partnership with the National Academy of Engineering in 1999 to recognize outstanding achievement in an engineering field that is currently of critical importance and that contributes to the advancement of science and engineering, as well as improves a person’s quality of life and has widespread application or use. An auxiliary purpose of the Russ Prize is to encourage collaboration between the engineering and medical/biological professions to work closely together.

Awarded biennially, the Russ Prize consists of a $500,000 cash award, funded through Ohio University as part of the Russ’s $124 million endowment, as well as a gold medallion and hand-scribed certificate. NAE members and non-members worldwide are eligible to receive the Russ Prize.

The Russ family’s endowment also funds scholarships for students pursuing degrees from OHIO’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology and helped to fund the recently opened Russ Research Opportunity Center (RROC) on OHIO’s Union Green. Located across West Union Street from the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and the planned Heritage Translational Research Center, the RROC is a state-of-the-art facility designed for interdisciplinary research.

“The Russ’s transformational gift to Ohio University and the Russ College continues to help us expand access to high-achieving students and to explore new research at Ohio University,” said Patrick J. Fox, Dean of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. “At the same time, through our partnership with the National Academy of Engineering, we are able to play an important role in recognizing breakthrough engineering achievements on a global scale with the Russ Prize.”

OHIO students also have rare access to the Russ Prize award winners. The awarded individual or team visits Ohio University during the year of their award to present a lecture to students, faculty and visitors.

Awarded since 2001, the Russ Prize has recognized the team of five engineers responsible for creating cochlear implants that enable the deaf to hear; Dr. Leroy Hood for automating DNA sequencing that revolutionized forensic science; Dr. Willem J. Kolff for pioneering work on the creation of artificial organs, beginning with the kidney, and launching a new field that is benefitting millions; Dr. Earl E. Bakken and Dr. Wilson Greatbatch for the development of the implantable cardiac pacemaker; and many other world-changing inventions.

Ian A. Shanks received his BSc in electrical engineering from Glasgow University. He received his Ph.D. while working at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern, England. There, between 1973 and 1982, he achieved or contributed to numerous research advances that extended our knowledge of liquid crystals and pioneered today’s LCD technologies. For this research, he was awarded the 1984 Paterson Medal of the U.K. Institute of Physics and a best paper award from the Society for Information Display.

In 1982, Shanks joined Unilever to initiate research into biosensors. His research enabled LCD and biosensor technologies. In 1976, he published the first paper on 3D television using LCDs, and almost all blood glucose test strips used by diabetics are based on his 1982 invention of electrochemical, capillary-fill device (eCFD) biosensors at Unilever Research. Such test strips can be made inexpensively in large numbers using mass manufacturing technology adapted from that for digital watch LCDs. They are still the gold standard for self-testing to monitor diabetes, allowing many millions of patients with diabetes to monitor the disease and avoid its often-dire consequences.

As chief scientist of THORN EMI plc from 1986 to 1994, he had responsibility for the leadership of roughly 200 scientists, engineers, and industrial designers. This responsibility was further extended when he rejoined Unilever in 1994, where, as vice president of physical and engineering sciences, he served on a board that managed the corporate research program for a concern that employed around 250,000 people and had research laboratories in the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, India, and China.

Shanks retired as vice president of physical and engineering sciences at Unilever in 2003. He maintains some of his science and engineering interests. As a distinguished and inventive scientist and engineer, he has extensive research and management experience in industry and government and relevant experience in science education. His research and management expertise covers the physical and life sciences, knowledge management, and engineering. He also has experience in leading strategy formulation. He has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Shanks was awarded the OBE for services to innovation in 2012 and has served on or chaired many senior committees for various organizations.

In 2019, after a 13-year-long legal battle, the U.K. Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, awarded Shanks substantial compensation from Unilever as a fair share of their outstanding benefit from licensing the eCFD patents and established legal precedent for how the U.K. 1977 Patents Act should be interpreted in the future, thus incentivizing future U.K. employee inventors. This was the first such award in over 30 years.

In 2020, Shanks was awarded the Royal Society’s Royal Medal in the Applied Sciences.