Biomedical Engineering

Since its founding more than 50 years ago, the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) has led the nation in developing biomedical engineering as an independent discipline.

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More detailed requirements for students enrolling at JHU for Fall 2025 will be available on this page when the JHU e-Catalogue is published in early July.

Overview

The Department of Biomedical Engineering has been setting the bar for BME undergraduate education and research for 60 years. We continue to lead the way through a curriculum that teaches students through practice, providing opportunities to engage with faculty and solve real-world biomedical engineering problems.

Our faculty are defining the field, forging new disciplines that have immense potential to transform human health and impact patient lives around the globe. Close partnership with clinical collaborators provides a strong foundation for translating advances to first clinical use.

As an undergraduate student in our program, you will work with our pioneering faculty and actively contribute to our mission of scientific discovery, innovation, and translational research that improves medicine and human health at scale. Through project-based learning, research experiences, design opportunities, clinical exposure, and more, you will solve real-world engineering problems from your first day of freshman year until your graduation day.

Programs

BS in Biomedical Engineering

Research

Over the course of their undergraduate careers, more than 95% of BME students pursue research projects in one of Johns Hopkins’ 3,000 basic science, engineering, and clinical laboratories. Working side-by-side with our leading scientists, engineers, and clinicians, students gain experience building and applying technologies that will advance medical knowledge and improve the delivery of healthcare.

Students seek opportunities that reflect their engineering focus area, career goals, and provide further depth outside of the classroom:

Biomedical Data Science:

methods to analyze large-scale biomedical datasets, shedding new light on the function of living systems.

Computational Medicine:

development and application of patient-specific, quantitative models that can be used in the clinic to understand, diagnose, and treat disease.

Genomics and Systems Biology:

pioneering new technologies to understand how the interactions between molecules, cells, tissues, and organs maintain health and contribute to disease.

Imaging and Medical Devices:

development of new imaging technologies to improve disease diagnosis and guide clinical procedures.

Immunoengineering:

pioneering immunoengineering approaches to augment tissue regeneration and to treat cancer and other diseases.

Neuroengineering:

technologies to modulate nervous system function for improved screening, diagnosis, prognosis, rehabilitation, and repair.

Translational Cell and Tissue Engineering:

pioneering approaches to augment tissue regeneration and treat disease.

After Graduation

Biomedical engineering offers diverse career opportunities. Biomedical engineers work in hospitals, universities, research labs, government settings, medical technology and biotechnology companies across the United States and abroad.

With an interdisciplinary foundation and in-depth learning in specialized focus areas, the curriculum prepares students for success in a variety of careers after graduation. Hopkins BME graduates are leaders in academia, medicine, entrepreneurship, and a wide variety of industries: biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, public health, government, healthcare, consulting, and more.

Through internships, research, and design projects, our students are making an impact and solving real-world problems—in the past five years, they have generated millions of dollars in funding, launched more than one dozen startup companies, and won hundreds of national awards. Because of this, Hopkins BME students are sought after by some of the top employers in the field.

Activities

The JHU Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Student Chapter is committed to serving the undergraduate BME community professionally, socially, and academically. This student-led group hosts a variety of events and seminars to connect BME undergraduates with faculty members and professional leaders, to provide resources that allow students to excel, and promote engagement with the local Baltimore community.

To help new BME students adjust to the social and academic environment at Hopkins, BMES hosts a wide array of freshmen social and academic advising events and mentorship groups throughout the fall semester.

BME students participate in a wide range of clubs across the engineering school and beyond. See the full list of engineering clubs at JHU.

Getting Started

Regardless of focus area, all BME students complete the same foundations in math, science and programming. In the first year, BME students should complete the First Year Seminar: Design Cornerstone and a Gateway Computing (either python or java) course. These two courses can be taken in either fall or spring semester of your first year.

There are a multitude of pathways through the BME undergraduate curriculum. The sample schedules provided show just a few of these permutations. We recommend working with your BME faculty mentor and WSE academic advisor to select the pathway that is right for you. This should be based on your goals in BME and outside BME (double majors or minors), your incoming AP scores, your external college credits, your co-curricular commitments and more!

BS Biomedical Engineering

Fall Semester

Course

Credits

AS.030.101

3

AS.030.105

1

AS.110.108* (FA2 Requirement)

4

AS.171.101**

4

AS.173.111

1

EN.500.113 or 112 (FA2 Computing and Data Science Requirement, or take EN.501.124)

3

EN.580.111 (FA5 Foundational Course in Ethical Reflection)

2

Total

18

Spring Semester

Course

Credits

AS.030.102

3

AS.030.106

1

AS.110.109 (FA2 Requirement)

4

AS.171.102

4

AS.173.112

1

EN.501.124 (or take EN.500.113 or EN.500.112)

2

EN.580.151

2

Total

17

* Select a math course according to your level of preparation as indicated by AP/IB/GCE or other exam score and/or the JHU Math Placement Process result. See your placement recommendations in the placement site in Canvas after you complete the process.

BME students who plan to double major are encouraged to take the combined Linear Algebra & Differential Equations course (553.291). Students planning to double major in Applied Mathematics and Statistics should plan to take the separate Linear Algebra and Differential Equations course.

** Physics I can be challenging for students without a solid foundation in Calculus I (even though Calculus I is listed as a co-req in the course description).

Note that Physics I may be moved to the spring semester with the understanding that some of the BME sophomore and junior-year courses can be shifted to the junior and senior year without adding additional time to complete the degree.

Additional Information

To learn more about the Department of Biomedical Engineering, visit bme.jhu.edu.

Biomedical Engineering Website