It was with great saddness that I heard of the death of Prof Dan Bader on 5th November 2022. Dan was my PhD supervisor and a trusted mentor and friend. At Dan's funeral, I was honoured to be able to say a few words about Dan's academic career and my own reflections of working with him over almost 30 years.

The following is an extract from my personal tribute:

'Dan was a Physicist by training, studying applied physics at the University of Liverpool, followed by an MSc in Aberdeen and then his PhD in Medical Engineering at the University of Southampton. As a post doc he joined the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at the University of Oxford, before getting his first academic appointment in 1989 as a lecturer in the Department of Materials in what is now Queen Mary University of London. 2 years later, Dan joined the newly formed Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Biomedical Materials at Queen Mary and in 1999 he became the first Professor of Medical Engineering.

Dan’s research started with understanding the biomechanical properties of soft tissues, particularly articular cartilage and the development of tissue engineering techniques for patients with arthritis. Dan was also a leading figure in research on pressure ulcers and how to prevent this horrible and potentially fatal tissue breakdown. I gather that even when he was in hospital recently, Dan was telling the nurses about his work on pressure ulcers that occur under facemasks and the shocking inequality of PPE that is only designed for Caucasian face shapes

In 1993 I joined Dan’s research team at the IRC as a PhD student.

Dan was a fantastic team builder – he brought us together sharing his enthusiasm and considerable expertise for science. But Dan combined this with an ability to make genuine connections with people - He cared about individuals and took the time to build those personal links. He always had something interesting to say, whether it was about film, music, history, politics and of course sport. He had us all playing football, encouraging us to participate in the squash ladder, tennis tournament and annual cricket match. I have fond memories of 5-a-side football, his booming voice shouting instructions, and as a young PhD student I remember being somewhat self-conscious standing next to Dan in the showers after a game as he enthusiastically drew graphs in the condensation on the wall – not your usual PhD supervision!

As well as research, Dan cared passionately about education and in 2000, he led the development of Medical Engineering as an undergraduate degree - one of the first such degrees in the UK. Since then well over a 1000 students have graduated from Queen Mary in medical or biomedical engineering, many of them benefiting directly from Dan’s outstanding teaching.

In 2011, Dan moved to the University of Southampton, where he led development of the Clinical Academic Facility at Southampton General Hospital and continued his own translational research.

He has held visiting professorships at several universities including University of Malay in Malaysia and Tohuku University in Japan. But his longest, at almost 20 years, was at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. He hugely enjoyed his monthly visits, building collaboration with Cees Oomens and others, teaching, and supervising numerous PhD students.

He was Chief Editor of the Journal of Tissue Viability, proudly raising its profile and impact factor and bringing academic rigour to this incredibly important area of healthcare.

Dan was always keen to publish, producing over 220 well-crafted papers and multiple book chapters.

Dan was a fantastic mentor, guiding and supporting me and so many others. And it is this personal touch that means Dan is so fondly remembered and well recognised by so many of his colleagues, and former students. Since Dan’s death we have had messages from all over the world with people sharing how important Dan has been in their lives.

All of us will have our own special memories of Dan. His academic guidance I know is still passed on today, whether it is how to write a PhD thesis or how to present at a conference. But for me, I will always remember his laughter and his sound advice and wisdom.

Dan gave so much, to so many - I will never forget him.'

Martin Knight

Updated by: Martin Knight