Kellen Chen

Kellen Chen, PhD, is an assistant research professor in the Department of Surgery and Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine – Tucson. He previously received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia and earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Chen studies therapies to improve outcomes after injury, skin grafting, chronic wound development, biomedical device implantation, and more. Among these many research avenues, Dr. Chen is particularly interested in the molecular and cellular drivers of fibrosis and regeneration across all organ systems, and he previously studied healing after myocardial infarction or Achilles tendon injuries. He is also currently working on obtaining FDA approval for a clinical trial to study pharmacological inhibition of mechanical signaling to accelerate healing of deep dermal injury.

Dr. Chen has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters, including first author publications in journals such as the Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and PNAS. He has received a variety of awards, including the First Place Young Investigator’s Award from the Wound Healing Society.

Dr Tomic-Canic is a William H. Eaglstein Chair in Wound Healing, Vice chair of Research and Professor and the Director of Wound Healing and Regenerative Medicine Research Program at the Dr Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutanelous Surgery at the University Of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her current research is focused on: molecular/cellular mechanisms of wound healing and its inhibition; developing new therapeutics and diagnostics; anti-inflammatory processes in wound healing and wound infection/host response. Her research has been continuously funded by the NIH for 25 years. Dr Tomic-Canic has participated in national scientific and clinical panels discussing the immense need for translational research areas to improve clinical outcomes of wound healing. She currently serves as a Section Editor for Journal of Investigative Dermatology and a Senior Editor of the Wound Repair and Regeneration Journals. She is recognized national and international leader and inventor in the field of wound healing research and was honored by NIH with WALS Lectureship. She served to Advisory Council of the NIH/NINR and was appointed to The Big Data to Knoledge Multi-Council Working Group. Very active member of the Wound Healing Society and Wound Care Collaborative COmmunity. She served as a WHS Program Chair in 2011, as a member of the Board of Directors, Executive Board and was the WHS President in 2016-2017. Her scientific contributions to the field of wound healing and her leadership were recognized by the 2022 Wound Healing Society's Lifetime Achievement Award and 2025 Distinguished Service Award.

Ryan R. Driskell, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University and leads the Fibroblast and Skin Regeneration Laboratory. He trained as a cell and developmental biologist at the University of Iowa, where he earned his PhD studying Wnt signaling, and completed postdoctoral training with Fiona Watt at the University of Cambridge and King’s College London, defining fibroblast lineages that shape skin development and repair. His laboratory investigates how developmental programs can be reactivated so wounds regenerate rather than scar, integrating porcine wound models, single-cell and spatial genomics, and tissue biology. Recent work from his group, published in Nature, demonstrated that neonatal pig wounds can rebuild rete ridges and identified BMP signaling as a key regulator of this process. His work connects fundamental skin development with translational strategies for restoring durable, functional skin after injury and aging.

Crystal Murray Holmes, DPM, is a podiatry specialist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She graduated from Kent State College of Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Holmes is currently a Clinical Associate Professor with University of Michigan Health System. She founded the Michigan Medicine Podiatry program in 2006 and still serves as the Program Director. She also has an active role in the training program for the University of Michigan Podiatry Research Fellowship in Limb Preservation, Wound Care, and Diabetes Related Lower Extremity Complications. The fellowship involves emphasis on research and patient populations at risk for limb loss. Dr. Holmes has had numerous leadership roles in national and international organizations such as chairperson on the scientific meeting planning committees at the International Working Group Diabetic Foot: Charcot, American Podiatric Medical Association and American Diabetes Association, and is a past president of the Michigan Podiatric Medical Association. She has research interest in diabetes limb preservation and has grant funding from the NIH/NIDDK and serves as a principle investigator in the Diabetic Foot Consortium.

Shomita S. Steiner, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. A microbiologist by training, she has more than 20 years of experience in biofilm infection, wound healing, and electroceutical technologies.

Dr. Steiner is Principal Investigator on an NIH/NIDDK R03 and co-investigator on DoD/MTEC and NIDDK awards. She co-leads a DoD-funded clinical trial of electroceutical dressings against combat wound infection, conducted in partnership with Ukrainian clinical teams. She plays an active role in intra and extramural communications and collaborations across University, Federal and Industry partnerships.

She serves as Vice-Chair of the NIH Diabetic Foot Consortium’s Publications, Presentations and Policies and Public Relations committees. She is also an active member of the Community-Partner Engagement Committee, leading community engagement efforts in Pittsburgh. She is Section Editor for Biofilms at Microbe (Elsevier), a member of the Wound Healing Society awards committee, and a multi-year recipient of the Society’s Foundation Communication Award.

Kellen Chen, PhD, is an assistant research professor in the Department of Surgery and Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine – Tucson. He previously received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia and earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Chen studies therapies to improve outcomes after injury, skin grafting, chronic wound development, biomedical device implantation, and more. Among these many research avenues, Dr. Chen is particularly interested in the molecular and cellular drivers of fibrosis and regeneration across all organ systems, and he previously studied healing after myocardial infarction or Achilles tendon injuries. He is also currently working on obtaining FDA approval for a clinical trial to study pharmacological inhibition of mechanical signaling to accelerate healing of deep dermal injury.

Dr. Chen has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters, including first author publications in journals such as the Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and PNAS. He has received a variety of awards, including the First Place Young Investigator’s Award from the Wound Healing Society.

Crystal Murray Holmes, DPM, is a podiatry specialist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She graduated from Kent State College of Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Holmes is currently a Clinical Associate Professor with University of Michigan Health System. She founded the Michigan Medicine Podiatry program in 2006 and still serves as the Program Director. She also has an active role in the training program for the University of Michigan Podiatry Research Fellowship in Limb Preservation, Wound Care, and Diabetes Related Lower Extremity Complications. The fellowship involves emphasis on research and patient populations at risk for limb loss. Dr. Holmes has had numerous leadership roles in national and international organizations such as chairperson on the scientific meeting planning committees at the International Working Group Diabetic Foot: Charcot, American Podiatric Medical Association and American Diabetes Association, and is a past president of the Michigan Podiatric Medical Association. She has research interest in diabetes limb preservation and has grant funding from the NIH/NIDDK and serves as a principle investigator in the Diabetic Foot Consortium.

Brian Schmidt, DPM is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes at the University of Michigan Medical School. He was raised in Michigan and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. After undergrad program, Dr. Schmidt proceeded to Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and graduated summa cum laude as a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM).

Dr. Schmidt completed his Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Residency with Reconstructive Rearfoot and Ankle certification at Yale University. Dr. Schmidt is board certified by the American Board of Podiatric Medicine (ABPM). He has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and is a leading expert in diabetic foot.

Dr. Schmidt has applied his clinical interest to translational research to better understand and promote diabetic foot ulcer healing and limb salvage through science. He is actively supported in his research by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and industry.

Dr. Schmidt is an active member in multiple medical societies and holds leadership roles.

Dr. Kanhaiya Singh is an Associate Professor at the Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Singh received his doctoral degree in Biotechnology from Banaras Hindu University, India. Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Singh served as an Assitant Professor at Indiana University. His research focus is on epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression during diabetic vasculopathy and includes single-cell transcriptomics and single-cell ATAC sequencing approaches to investigate the molecular pathways that are compromised. His laboratory is also investigating the epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation as a proxy for abnormal gene–environmental interactions in diabetic ischemic wounds. Current line of study aims to develop a simple and point of care approach to achieve targeted epigenetic editing of adult diabetic ischemic tissue in vivo. To that end, his team is employing Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) technology as a delivery platform to administer combination gene therapy for diabetic ischemic tissue rescue. This research is funded through peer-reviewed grants from Department of Defense (DoD) and NIH-NIDDK. Dr. Singh has authored more than 50 peer reviewed publications. Dr Singh has been an Editorial Boards peer reviewed journals such as Scientific Reports, Plos One, Frontiers in Endocrinology and Heliyon. In this role, he has edited more than 200 publications and 4 special issues. He serves as active member of Wound Healing Society and American Diabetes Association.

Shomita S. Steiner, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. A microbiologist by training, she has more than 20 years of experience in biofilm infection, wound healing, and electroceutical technologies.

Dr. Steiner is Principal Investigator on an NIH/NIDDK R03 and co-investigator on DoD/MTEC and NIDDK awards. She co-leads a DoD-funded clinical trial of electroceutical dressings against combat wound infection, conducted in partnership with Ukrainian clinical teams. She plays an active role in intra and extramural communications and collaborations across University, Federal and Industry partnerships.

She serves as Vice-Chair of the NIH Diabetic Foot Consortium’s Publications, Presentations and Policies and Public Relations committees. She is also an active member of the Community-Partner Engagement Committee, leading community engagement efforts in Pittsburgh. She is Section Editor for Biofilms at Microbe (Elsevier), a member of the Wound Healing Society awards committee, and a multi-year recipient of the Society’s Foundation Communication Award.

Kellen Chen, PhD, is an assistant research professor in the Department of Surgery and Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine – Tucson. He previously received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia and earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Chen studies therapies to improve outcomes after injury, skin grafting, chronic wound development, biomedical device implantation, and more. Among these many research avenues, Dr. Chen is particularly interested in the molecular and cellular drivers of fibrosis and regeneration across all organ systems, and he previously studied healing after myocardial infarction or Achilles tendon injuries. He is also currently working on obtaining FDA approval for a clinical trial to study pharmacological inhibition of mechanical signaling to accelerate healing of deep dermal injury.

Dr. Chen has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters, including first author publications in journals such as the Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and PNAS. He has received a variety of awards, including the First Place Young Investigator’s Award from the Wound Healing Society.

Dr. Kanhaiya Singh is an Associate Professor at the Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Singh received his doctoral degree in Biotechnology from Banaras Hindu University, India. Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Singh served as an Assitant Professor at Indiana University. His research focus is on epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression during diabetic vasculopathy and includes single-cell transcriptomics and single-cell ATAC sequencing approaches to investigate the molecular pathways that are compromised. His laboratory is also investigating the epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation as a proxy for abnormal gene–environmental interactions in diabetic ischemic wounds. Current line of study aims to develop a simple and point of care approach to achieve targeted epigenetic editing of adult diabetic ischemic tissue in vivo. To that end, his team is employing Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) technology as a delivery platform to administer combination gene therapy for diabetic ischemic tissue rescue. This research is funded through peer-reviewed grants from Department of Defense (DoD) and NIH-NIDDK. Dr. Singh has authored more than 50 peer reviewed publications. Dr Singh has been an Editorial Boards peer reviewed journals such as Scientific Reports, Plos One, Frontiers in Endocrinology and Heliyon. In this role, he has edited more than 200 publications and 4 special issues. He serves as active member of Wound Healing Society and American Diabetes Association.