Anirudh Gundapantula

Dr. Alvarez obtained a Bachelor of Science in Pre-Med and Chemistry from the University of Dayton, Ohio (1974). He received his doctorate in Biochemistry from Rutgers University in 1979. He was an NIH Postdoctoral fellow and a Wound Healing Fellow at the Department of Dermatology, University of Miami School of Medicine from 1979-1980. Dr. Alvarez is the recipient of the 21st Annual John Boswick Award for lifelong achievement and dedication in the field of wound care. Dr. Alvarez has been awarded 90 research grants. Dr. Alvarez served as a member of the Agency Health Care Policy and Research, a panel for guideline development in the prevention and management of pressure ulcers. Dr. Alvarez was Director of the Curative and Palliative Wound Care Center at Calvary Hospital, Bronx, NY from 2004-2016, and as Program Director of the Vascular and Wound Care Center at University Hospital, Newark, NJ from 2017-2020. Dr. Alvarez is a founding editor of the journal WOUNDS and is Senior Editor of Wound Repair and Regeneration. He has authored over 200 peer- reviewed publications relating to wound care. Dr. Alvarez has also been principal investigator in more than 60 major clinical trials.

Currently, Dr. Alvarez is Program Director (Emeritus), Vascular and Wound Care Center and Professor (Adjunct) in the Department of Surgery at Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School. He is also a Voluntary Associate Professor, Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL

Christie Bergerson, PhD, is a biomedical engineer and AI subject matter expert at ECRI, where she evaluates AI-enabled medical devices and advises healthcare organizations on AI risk, governance, and patient safety. Previously, she held engineering and leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories and Exponent, supporting medical device development, failure analysis, and regulatory strategy. Her research and professional work spans three core areas—software in medical devices, orthopedics, and in vitro diagnostics—with artificial intelligence serving as a common thread across all three. She formerly held a role as an ISO committee member on AI standardization and is the lead author of ECRI guidance on AI.

Anirudh Gundapantula is a BME undergraduate at UT Austin with a minor in Business Foundations. His research work has spanned wet lab methods and computational ones, with a current focus on applying machine learning to help optimize clinical practices. He currently works as an AI/ML researcher at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, through which this work was developed. In addition to this project, he is a QA/Clinical intern at ClearCam inc, a company which has developed a wiping solution for lenses in scope - based surgeries. He is currently working on developing a surgeon pattern analysis tool to better understand which areas of the lens need to be cleaned in - vitro. This is in hopes to develop an AI pipeline which also optimizes that process. Previously, he worked in UT - based research labs,including ones in fields of biosensing, specifically using both glass and biological nanopores for small - molecule detection. In high - school, he helped cofound a nonprofit dedicated to detecting PFAS in drinking water through a novel gene pipeline. That nonprofit continues to run today - and competes in iGEM Jamborees, with the group winning a Silver medal in its first year of competition and Gold medals thereafter. Outside of research, he enjoys lifting and running, and has set the ambitious goal of becoming an Ironman by the end of 2028.

Dr. Thomas E. Serena MD FACS FACHM MAPWCA, Founder and Medical Director of The SerenaGroup®, a physician-owned contract research organization (CRO) that conducts clinical trials in a broad range of diseases related to wound healing. To promote clinical research in the burgeoning field of wound care, SerenaGroup® established a site management organization (SMO) that assists hospitals and clinics in establishing compliant research programs. In addition, SerenaGroup® provides consulting services for advanced wound and hyperbaric centers across the globe. Dr. Serena completed his residency in Surgery at Penn State and maintains board certification in Surgery.

Dr. Serena operates advanced wound care and research centers across the United Sates and globally. He has been the lead or Principal investigator in over 150 clinical trials, including diagnostics, antimicrobial dressings, growth factors, and CAMP therapy. He is one of the world leaders in clinical research, quality improvement, and real-world data collection. He holds numerous patents on wound care devices and dressings.
He is recognized internationally as an expert in the field of wound healing: He has more than 350 published papers and has given more than 2500 invited lectures throughout the world. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Wound Healing Society He is a Past President of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) and American Professional Wound Care Association. He is the Vice-President of the International Surgical Wound Complication Advisory Board (ISWCAP). In 2024, he founded the international Post-Acute Wound Society (iPAWS).
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