Irena Pastar, Ph.D. is a professor in the Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Pastar received doctoral degree in molecular microbiology at the University of Belgrade, followed by postdoctoral trainings at The Rockefeller University and Cornell University Weill Medical College. She was an Assistant Professor at the New York University School of Medicine before joining the University of Miami faculty in 2011. Dr. Pastar’s research focuses on molecular mechanisms of wound healing, cutaneous response to wound pathogens, mechanism od novel antimicrobial therapies and molecular pathology of chronic wounds. The long-term goal of Dr Pastar’s research is to enable the development of novel treatments by leveraging understanding of host-pathogen interactions in patients suffering from chronic cutaneous inflammatory conditions and non-healing wounds. Dr. Pastar is leading multiple transnational projects on wound infections funded by National Institute of Health (NIH) and Industry. As an established investigator in the field of wound healing she has been recognized by multiple awards from the Wound Healing Society and Symposium on Advanced Wound Care. She has multiple editorial responsibilities, including serving on editorial board of the Wound Repair and Regeneration Journal and as a grant reviewer for NIH and DoD pannels .