Nov. 2020

Dr. Rex Jeffries is a North Carolina native from Graham in Alamance County. He is currently an online and residential Instructor of Engineering, teaching Biomedical Engineering and Web Development.

Dr. Jeffries began his college journey at Duke on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, then transferred to North Carolina A&T State University where he received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering. While in college, he found that he was really interested in computers and how they worked… particularly microprocessors. One of Dr. Jeffries' first exposures to computers was his Radio Shack computer kit. He fondly remembers his time with his Uncle who was an electrical engineer in the Air Force and encouraged him to take things apart and figure out how they worked.

After working in industry for many years, including as a Senior Software Engineer in the networking industry, where he worked to develop the first Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) offering for internet service providers, his experiences with his son's recovery from a bad accident led him to become interested in wound healing and scar tissue reduction. After encouragement from his mentor, Dr. Jeffries subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from North Carolina State University/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a focus in tissue engineering.

Dr. Jeffries conducted research in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at NC State on breast cancer metastasis and the effects of diabetes on its movement. In addition, he managed the BioMed-Connect Alliance Mentoring Incubator in the College of Engineering, where he mentored high school, community college, and engineering undergraduates historically underrepresented in biomedical research. Dr. Jeffries also conducted research developing a bioartificial liver to conduct metabolism studies of both drugs and liver cancer.

As an instructor at NCSSM, Dr. Jeffries enjoys engaging with students early but at a level where they can really understand. He also loves the opportunities and the passion that his colleagues have for education and curriculum development. He has taught in our residential, online, and open enrollment programs and is expanding offerings in biomedical engineering through a new January Term offering in tissue engineering and medical device design. He advises students to take advantage of new experiences and don't worry so much about the future.

Outside of teaching, Dr. Jeffries enjoys spending time with family, travel (he has visited Puerto Rico, London, Dominican Republic, and lived in Japan), sports, and performing with the Justice Theater Project production company. He is also a big music fan, and he used to play the saxophone.

Modified from a profile written by Dr. Letitia Hubbard.