Don Gage, PhD

About Don Gage

Gage received his PhD in computer engineering from North Carolina State University in 1995. He began his career at Wake Forest in 1993. He was initially employed as a research associate and then joined the faculty in 1997. He began as a research instructor, was promoted in 1998 to assistant professor and to associate professor in 2013. In 2017 and 2018, he led the newly formed medical device security team at Wake Forest Baptist Health, protecting the large and diverse network of devices in use at the medical center from cyberattacks. 

As a dedicated, multidisciplinary problem-solver, Gage brings a diverse range of experience and expertise to the problems he addresses, from his early career as a certified public accountant to his many years conducting research in the medical and cybersecurity realms. His medical device experience encompasses both research and clinical operations, which gives him a unique perspective on the challenges involved in securing devices from hacking.  

Gage believes that cybersecurity in the hospital realm and elsewhere is a huge problem facing our health care system and our society. As we enter the internet of things era, with countless devices connected to the web, the risk of potentially devastating incidents like the recent ransomware attacks on hospitals is rising exponentially. It will also be important, he notes, for facilities to understand that they must control physical access to sensitive devices, making sure that unauthorized parties cannot operate them and possibly gain access to entire networks as a result.  

With his singular background and highly informed outlook on problems emerging in health care networking and security, Gage sees a great opportunity to engage with industrial partners to forge solutions. His knowledge would also be quite useful to medical device manufacturers, who are facing evolving regulations in the area of cybersecurity. He can offer solutions that will be compliant but cost-effective.  

Gage and his Wake Forest colleague Errin Fulp, PhD, have been developing a security system based on the use of virtual machines called N-resilience. The technology would be of interest to companies involved in networking and virtual machine manufacturers and users.