Session Agenda

Dr. Karen Bauer is a Wound Certified and Vascular Surgery Nurse Practitioner. She graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Toledo, an M.S. from The Ohio State University and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from The University of Toledo. She has been practicing as a wound practitioner for over 19 years and in vascular surgery for over 8 years. She currently practices at George Washington university Hospital. Karen has extensive leadership experience, most recently at Emory University in the Division of Vascular Surgery as the Limb Preservation Coordinator. She was previously the Director of Wound and Vascular Services and Lead APP at the University of Toledo Medical Center in the Division of Vascular Surgery and concurrently as the Program Director at a rural wound center in Wauseon, Ohio, where she practiced for over 13 years.

She is the immediate past-President of the Society for Vascular Nursing and a long-time Board Member and Fellow of the AAWC. She is a Board Member of the Save a Leg Save a Life Foundation and the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders. Karen participates on the American Heart Association’s Peripheral Artery Disease National Action Plan Steering Committee and is an editorial reviewer for many scientific journals. She serves on numerous national committees and lectures regionally, nationally, and internationally. She is also a published writer.

Ms. Couch graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing (FNP) from Georgetown University in 2002. She is a Doctoral student in Nursing Practice-Systems Leadership (DNP-SL) at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she works as Director of Wound Care Services and Director of Employee Health Services at The George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. She is an Associate Research Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at George Washington University. Her wound care interests include caring for persons with limb loss/limb differences, complex abdominal wounds, and use of technology in wound healing.
Ms. Couch is the current Chair of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders and the Immediate Past-President of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC). Kara is a Fellow of the Association of the Advancement of Wound Care. Kara also serves on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee of the Amputee Coalition. She is an editorial board member of the International Wound Journal, Journal of Wound Management, and WoundSource 2026. She has authored or co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers and lectures nationally and internationally on wound care topics.

Dr. Dove is the Director of Clinical Research at the Department of Orthopaedics, Division of Podiatry at UT Health Science San Antonio. Dr. Dove has served as a Principal Investigator in over 50 clinical trials, over the past twenty years. She is currently establishing a research program, in which her colleagues, residents and students will be actively engaged.

She earned the Degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine at California College of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco, CA, She also completed her Post Graduate Training at The University of Texas, Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas under the tutelage of Dr. Lawrence Harkless. She completed a surgical fellowship at North General Hospital, in New York, NY.

Dr. Dove was previously in private practice in Las Vegas. Her private practice combined industry sponsored research and general podiatry, with a focus on wound care. Before opening her practice, Dr. Dove was the director of podiatry at the Diabetic foot and Ankle Center - Hospital for Joint Disease - NYU. Concurrently, she served as the sub-investigator for multiple Phase I-IV clinical trials.

Dr. Dove has multiple publications, including the Lancet and other peer-reviewed journals.

Megan L. Oltmann, DPM, FACFAS is the Head of Podiatric Surgery and Wound Care at the Bill and Lorraine Dodero Limb Preservation Center at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Medical Director of the University Hospitals Twinsburg Wound Care Center. She is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedics at Case Western Reserve University, core faculty for the University Hospitals Podiatric Surgery Residency Program, and Adjunct Clinical and Surgical Faculty at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Oltmann lectures nationally on limb preservation, wound care, and reconstructive foot and ankle surgery and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. She sits on the Board of Trustees for The Podiatry Foundation. Dr. Oltmann is also a co-author of the bestselling book Chronicles of Women in White Coats 3.

Dot has been practicing in the specialty of wound and ostomy care for over 4 decades. She has practiced in acute care, home care and long-term care, spent 7 years in industry, and has practiced in outpatient care since 2001. She has been Board Certified by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Certification Board since 1985 and The American Board of Wound Management since 2004. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers and consensus documents, and 14 book chapters. She is the Co-Chair of the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, was part of the founding faculty for the Wound Certification Prep Course, is a committe member of the International Wound Infection Institute, and works as a Consultant and Educator and lives in Holland, Michigan. She works part time at the Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Clinic at Holland Hospital.

Frank Aviles, Jr, PT, CWS, FACCWS, CLT-LANA, ALM, AWCC, is a physical therapist with over 35 years of experience in wound care, specializing in the treatment and management of chronic wounds and lymphedema. He is deeply committed to advocacy, education, and patient care.

Beyond his clinical work, Frank is active in research and publishing and co-hosts The Frank & Lizzie Show, an educational platform for wound care and lymphedema clinicians. He also serves as a consultant, advisor, and speaker for various industry partners in the wound care and lymphedema space.

Frank is a co-founder of the Advanced Wound and Lymphatic Institute and is associated with Aetherus Wound and Lymphatics in Tampa, Florida, further expanding his leadership role in advancing education, clinical innovation, and integrated care in wound healing and lymphatic disorders

Dr. Heather Barnhart is a nationally recognized expert in integumentary dysfunction and Director of Clinical Operations at Koya Medical.
With four board certifications and over three decades of experience, she has led at the intersection of clinical practice, research, and innovation.
A former professor at Nova Southeastern University, she is a sought-after speaker and key opinion leader whose work has influenced clinicians and organizations worldwide through research, publications, and international presentations.
Her work and leadership across professional organizations continue to shape best practices and innovation in the field.

Dr. Yadwinder Dhillon is the owner of AZ Wound and Hyperbaric Medicine in Phoenix, Arizona, where he leads a practice dedicated to the treatment of complex and non-healing wounds. Board certified in Family Medicine, he brings 20 years of experience spanning direct patient care and clinical research in wound healing.
Dr. Dhillon is also co-owner of Ethos CRO, a contract research organization through which he has helped design and execute clinical studies advancing the evidence base for wound care therapies. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications, and his dual role as clinician and investigator informs a practical, outcomes-focused approach to translating trial data into bedside decision-making.
In addition to his clinical and research work, Dr. Dhillon serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He lectures regularly to medical students and teaches residents in the clinical setting, mentoring the next generation of physicians in wound management and hyperbaric medicine.
Across two decades of practice, Dr. Dhillon has focused on advancing standards of care for patients with chronic wounds — combining rigorous clinical investigation with hands-on treatment and education. He is pleased to join his colleagues at SAWC in October.

Dr. Lucian Vlad is an Associate Professor and Director of the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Fellowship at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, NC. He is board-certified in Family Medicine, faculty in the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Department and has practiced full time in a tertiary wound care and hyperbaric center since 2012, with a clinical focus on limb salvage and complex chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, and pressure injuries. His academic interests span compression therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, collagen scaffolds and other advanced biologics, low-intensity laser and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and clinical nutrition in wound care, and he is an active educator and frequent national and international lecturer.
Outside clinical work his advocay work includes ABWMS (American Board of Wound Medicine & Surgery) as member of the Board of Directors, WCCC (Wound Care Collaborative Community) as Chair of the Real Word Evidence Workstream, AAWC (Association for the Advancement of Wound Care) as Co-Chair of the Education Commitee and WHS (Wound Healing Society) member of Edducation Commitee.

Sujay Dutta, MD, is a board certified infectious diseases specialist and wound care physician in Thousand Oaks, California. Dr. Dutta practices out of his private office at Los Robles Medical Center, and at the Center for Advanced Wound Healing located adjacent to the hospital. He has been in practice for over 25 years. He is originally from Northern California, but has resided around the country. Dr. Dutta earned his undergraduate degree at University of California, Berkeley, his master of science degree through the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and his doctor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. He then completed his internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Hospital, and his postgraduate training at University of Washington in Seattle for his Infectious Diseases fellowship. Dr. Dutta lives and works in Thousand Oaks, California, and has special interests in virology, immunology, and wound care infections.

Dr. Lisa Gould earned her MD, PhD in the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been practicing plastic and reconstructive surgery with an emphasis on difficult wound problems since 1999. She is an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at University of South Florida and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University. Dr. Gould brought her passion for research and education in wound care to her clinical practice at South Shore Hospital and the South Shore Health Center for Wound Healing in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Now retired, she continues to serve multiple national organizations, including the Wound Healing Society, the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders, the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel, the MAVEN project, the Wound Care Collaborative Community and the American College of Surgeons. A past president of the Wound Healing Society, she served on the executive board for more than 10 years. She currently serves on both the Education and Government Relations Committees. She is a recipient of the Wound Healing Society’s Distinguished Service and Lifetime Achievement Awards and the 2024 Robert Warriner III Award from the. Association for the Advancement of Wound Care. Her overarching goal is to improve patients' lives by preventing and healing wounds as fast as possible. She strongly believes this can be accomplished by providing basic wound education to all clinical providers and bringing a broad base of wound care stakeholders together to speak with one voice for the good of our patients.

I am an Infectious Diseases physician and health system leader in Wound Medicine, Hyperbaric Medicine, and Antimicrobial Stewardship. I currently oversee multiple wound care and hyperbaric programs and have focused on integrating stewardship principles into wound management. My current work includes developing system-wide clinical standards, initiatives focused on multidisciplinary wound care, limb preservation, antimicrobial stewardship, and hyperbaric medicine, as well as promoting appropriate utilization of advanced wound therapies to improve patient outcomes while providing access to innovative treatments.

Spencer is an Executive Account Manager with Smith+Nephew, where he has spent the past seven years supporting healthcare professionals and advancing patient care. He earned his degree in Exercise Science from the University of North Dakota and later completed an Advanced Practitioner Specialty degree in Orthotics at Century College. Prior to joining Smith+Nephew, Spencer spent seven years as an orthotic practitioner at Sanford Health, specializing in cranial remolding orthotics for head shape deformities. Outside of work, Spencer enjoys fishing, golfing, and spending time with his wife and two children.

Emily Greenstein, APRN, CNP, CWON-AP, FACCWS is a Certified Wound and Ostomy Nurse Practitioner at Essentia Health in Fargo, ND. She is certified as an Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She has been involved with other wound organizations and . is currently elected to the Board of Directors for the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists, past president of the North Central chapter for the wound, ostomy and contience society. Emily has served as an expert reviewer for the WOCN Society and the Journal for WOCN. She is a blogger for Wound Source. Her main career focus is on the advancement of wound care through evidence-based research.

Dr. Charles B. Parks grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received his B.S. in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2005. He went on to graduate Cum Laude from the California School of Podiatric Medicine at Samuel Merritt University in 2013 with a degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine and completed his residency at the VASF.

Dr. Parks is the Chief of Podiatric Surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and UCSF in the Department of Orthopedics. He specializes in treating complex limb salvage, lower extremity trauma, and reconstruction. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he is also associate clinical professor at the University of California, SF & California School of Podiatric Medicine at Samuel Merritt University.
Dr. Parks is located in San Francisco, CA.

Dr. Basso majored in physiology at UC Davis, and then went on to graduate from the California School of Podiatric Medicine in 1988. Dr. Basso has more than 36 years of wide and diverse medical and surgical expertise, both in podiatry, peripheral nerve surgery, and in limb salvage. Dr. Basso is the managing partner for the Basso Podiatry Group, as well as three endovascular labs dedicated to limb salvage and amputation prevention. And his
specialty is lower extremity nerve surgery.
Dr. Basso is certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery, the American Board of Podiatric Medicine, and the Association for Extremity Nerve Surgery. Dr. Basso holds Fellowship in the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, the American College of Foot and Ankle Orthopedics and Medicine, and the Association for Extremity Nerve Surgery.
Dr. Basso is dedicated to the treatment of neuropathy and has received training in advanced peripheral nerve surgery through the Mayo Clinic, including micro nerve surgery.
Dr. Basso is a past president of the Association for Extremity Nerve Surgery, and a past president of the California Podiatric Medical Association.
Dr. Basso demonstrates a kind and thoughtful approach to his patients, combining that with a depth of expertise as a foot and ankle surgeon. He is a sought-after peripheral nerve surgeon. He has lectured in various parts of the country in peripheral nerve surgery, wound care, and limb salvage. And is a published author in the area of wound care and limb salvage.
Dr. Basso is dedicated to his family, his church and his community. And he is an avid cyclist. He enjoys reading and music.

Dr. Kirsner is Chairman, Tenured Professor and the endowed Harvey Blank Chair in the Dr. Phillip Frost Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is Chief of Dermatology at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics and Jackson Memorial Hospital and directs the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center. Dr. Kirsner received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, his medical degree from the University of Miami and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Miami, after he completed his clinical training. His clinical training included internal medicine, a clinical and research fellowship in wound healing and dermatology at the University of Miami. His research interests include Wound Healing and Skin Cancer Epidemiology. Dr. Kirsner serves as one of 3 academic editors for the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration and on the editorial boards for several other journals in dermatology and wound healing. Dr. Kirsner serves in national leadership positions in both Wound Healing and Dermatology, including serving as past Vice President of the American Academy of Dermatology and is currently President of the Wound Healing. In addition to career development awards, foundation, industry sponsored funding and CDC funding, he currently leads or is part of several NIH funded grants. Independent of books, book chapters and abstracts, he has published over 650 articles.

Dr. Weston began her research career with studies of muscle regeneration following spinal cord injury and muscle development in sub-ideal conditions (e.g., spinal cord isolation). Following several years investigating hematopoietic stem cell characteristics and self-renewal in response to micro-environmental factors, she began studying bone development and regeneration. Interest in stem cell microenvironments led her to the investigation of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) efficacy through exosome delivery and its effect on healing
(these mechanisms include growth factor elution from reparative microenvironments, either endogenous or created). Successes in MSC work led Dr. Weston to Vivex Biomedical where she expanded her interest in the
mechanisms of allograft healing in healthy and damaged environments. As Principal Research Scientist, her work in product development and validation resulted in highly effective products and multiple patents. Dr. Weston was offered the opportunity to conduct her research at the very impressive Cell Therapy Institute at Nova Southeastern University where she participated numerous collaborations evaluating the role of microvesicles in sarcoma initiation and progression for the purpose of biomarker elucidation, as well as serving on numerous Medical School admission and evaluation committees. Through consulting activities in the biotechnology space, she developed strong and prosperous relationships with several companies and has developed and characterized several impressive products for market use. Currently, Dr. Weston serves as Vice President of Research and Development for BioStem Technologies. In this role, she is investigating the capacity of birth tissues to promote regeneration and healing in various tissue microenvironments, with emphasis on non-healing wounds.

Yvette Mier, BSN, RN, CWON, is a nationally recognized Certified Wound and Ostomy Nurse with more than 25 years of experience in wound care. For the past two decades, she has served at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center—the flagship facility of the Southeast's largest healthcare system—where she leads clinical operations at the Outpatient Wound Center.
Yvette is a published author and respected voice in the field, contributing a chapter to the WOCN Core Curriculum: Wound Management textbook and presenting numerous research posters at national wound care conferences. She also serves as clinical faculty for the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing (WOCN) program at Emory University.
Renowned for her clinical expertise, leadership, and patient-centered approach, Yvette is a trusted resource for both healthcare professionals and patients navigating complex wound care challenges. Her specialties include advanced wound assessment, evidence-based treatment planning, and interdisciplinary team coordination.
Yvette has a unique ability to distill complex clinical information into practical strategies that improve outcomes and raise the standard of care. Her passion for education, particularly in leg health, combined with her collaborative spirit, makes her a sought-after mentor and speaker. Whether at the bedside or on the podium, she brings clarity, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to excellence in wound care.

Susie Seaman is triple Board-Certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner, Wound Care Nurse, and Wound Specialist, and is based in San Diego, California. She initially practiced as a CWOCN in the home health care arena for eight years before moving to the outpatient wound clinic setting 28 years ago. Since that time, Susie founded and then practiced in three large wound clinics in San Diego County. She is currently an educator and consultant, and is passionate about spreading the word regarding state-of-the-art care of patients with chronic wounds. Her special interests include holistic patient and wound evaluation, lower extremity and atypical wound care, topical therapy, bioburden management, and the use of advanced technologies. Susie serves on the Planning Committee for the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, Spring and Fall meetings, and is the Secretary for the International Wound Infection Institute (IWII).

Dot has been practicing in the specialty of wound and ostomy care for over 4 decades. She has practiced in acute care, home care and long-term care, spent 7 years in industry, and has practiced in outpatient care since 2001. She has been Board Certified by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Certification Board since 1985 and The American Board of Wound Management since 2004. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers and consensus documents, and 14 book chapters. She is the Co-Chair of the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, was part of the founding faculty for the Wound Certification Prep Course, is a committe member of the International Wound Infection Institute, and works as a Consultant and Educator and lives in Holland, Michigan. She works part time at the Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Clinic at Holland Hospital.

I am a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and have practiced for 40 years. The past 10 years my practice has been limited to Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine. For 30 years, my original private practice location was in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. Ten years ago i started work at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and developed their Wound Care Clinic. I was invited by David Armstrong in 2022 to move to Casa Colina Hospital in Pomona, California. We are in the process of developing a Limb Preservation Center. The community has the highest Amputation rate in Los Angeles County.

Ronke M. Olabisi, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, where she leads a laboratory developing smart biomaterials and regenerative therapies for tissue repair. Her research integrates biomaterials science, stem cell biology, and tissue engineering to create cell-responsive materials that improve healing and regeneration.

Prof. Olabisi’s laboratory has pioneered hydrogel-based co-encapsulation strategies that dramatically accelerate healing in animal models of chronic diabetic wounds and full-thickness burns by enhancing the therapeutic function of mesenchymal stem cells. Her group also develops electroactive and piezoelectric biomaterials that direct stem cell fate for neural and musculoskeletal tissue engineering, as well as biomimetic materials inspired by seashells that precisely control bone formation. Her work has resulted in two patents, an NSF Innovation Corps translational project, and invitations to present her research to the U.S. Department of State, the European Union Parliament, and the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.

Dr. Olabisi is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the Johnson and Johnson Women in STEM2D award, the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator Award, and the BMES Diversity Lecture Award. She has delivered more than 40 invited, plenary, and keynote lectures, authored over 35 peer-reviewed publications, contributed to two National Academies reports and two book chapters, and remains committed to translating regenerative engineering discoveries into clinically impactful therapies for patients with challenging wounds.

Dr. Michael N. Desvigne is a true plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has chosen to dedicate his expertise to reconstructive surgery, specifically wound reconstruction. Dr, Desvigne believes performing reconstructive surgery has made him a better wound healing clinician and managing complex wounds has made him a better reconstructive surgeon. Dr. Desvigne brings a wealth of experience from a variety of disciplines. He is board certified in plastic surgery, general surgery, wound care and hyperbaric medicine. With this quadruple certification he approaches each wound problem with a staircase approach including surgical and nonsurgical solutions.

Dr. Desvigne is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). He is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the Arizona Society of Plastic Surgeons. He is also a member of the American Academy of Wound Specialists, Wound Healing Society and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. He is a world-renowned lecturer and consultant in wound healing technologies. He has created multiple programs for inpatient and outpatient centers of excellence in wound care, with a focus on the continuum of care.

Dr. Kirsner is Chairman, Tenured Professor and the endowed Harvey Blank Chair in the Dr. Phillip Frost Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is Chief of Dermatology at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics and Jackson Memorial Hospital and directs the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center. Dr. Kirsner received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, his medical degree from the University of Miami and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Miami, after he completed his clinical training. His clinical training included internal medicine, a clinical and research fellowship in wound healing and dermatology at the University of Miami. His research interests include Wound Healing and Skin Cancer Epidemiology. Dr. Kirsner serves as one of 3 academic editors for the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration and on the editorial boards for several other journals in dermatology and wound healing. Dr. Kirsner serves in national leadership positions in both Wound Healing and Dermatology, including serving as past Vice President of the American Academy of Dermatology and is currently President of the Wound Healing. In addition to career development awards, foundation, industry sponsored funding and CDC funding, he currently leads or is part of several NIH funded grants. Independent of books, book chapters and abstracts, he has published over 650 articles.

Alisha Oropallo, MD FACS, FSVS, FABWMS is a Professor of Surgery at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University/Northwell and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. She practices as the Director of the Comprehensive Wound Healing Center at Northwell Health and Program Director of the Wound and Burn Fellowship program at Northwell Health. Dr. Oropallo completed her residency in Vascular Surgery at Boston University Medical Center and her General Surgery residency at Maimonides Medical Center, NY. She has been the lead investigator on multiple clinical trials, published papers, and has been invited to present lectures in wound healing globally. She is interested in education, research, and quality measures in tissue regeneration to help improve patient outcomes.

Rhonda Sullivan, DNP, PhD, MBA, MSN, CWON, LNCC, NE-BC, CSPHA, CLSSBB, is a nurse executive, researcher, educator, and legal nurse consultant with 33 years of nursing experience, including 26 years in wound, ostomy, and legal nursing specialties. She currently serves as Vice President of Implementation and Clinical Outcomes at Bruin Biometrics, LLC, where she leads harm reduction initiatives, including path to zero implementations, outcomes measurement, and collaboration with healthcare organizations to improve practice, workflow, and clinical and financial outcomes.

Dr. Sullivan holds doctoral preparation in nursing practice and business and is board certified as a Nurse Executive, Wound-Ostomy Nurse, Legal Nurse Consultant, Safe Patient Handling Associate, and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She is a published author, award-winning researcher, and international speaker whose scholarly and clinical work focuses on pressure injury prevention, with a focus on deep tissue pressure injury, skin assessment in persons with darkly pigmented skin, acute skin failure, harm and waste reduction, evidence-based practice, health economics, and medic-legal issues.

Her leadership extends into her roles as President of Legal Nurse Partners™, Executive Director of the iWOC Nursing Foundation™, and Director on the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants Certification Board. Dr. Sullivan is passionate about empowering nurses and other healthcare leaders to advance clinical excellence, improve outcomes, and strengthen organizational performance by reducing preventable harm, avoidable hospital-acquired conditions, waste, and unnecessary variation in care.

Jeanine Maguire, a Physical Therapist and Certified Wound Specialist is a visionary leader and PhD scholar dedicated to connecting and building high-performing teams to dramatically improve health care and patient outcomes. With nearly three decades in wound management, Dr. Maguire previously held the impactful role of VP of Skin Health and Wound Management Integrations at Genesis HealthCare, managing a program that scaled technology and standardized care across 500 nursing homes nationwide. Her innovative spirit led her to serve as a Chief Clinical Delivery Officer for a Value Based Care Wound Start-up, where she was a pioneer in building sophisticated care pathways and collaborating with AI engineers to develop evidence-based clinical guidance rules. Her commitment to integrated, patient-centered care culminated in her role as President and co-founder of the rising global non-profit, the Post-Acute Wound Skin Integrity Council (PAWSIC), driving advocacy and educational excellence across the post-acute sector and beyond.

Dr. Evans is Professor of Plastic Surgery at Medstar Georgetown University Medical Center. She is the Georgetown School of Medicine clerkship director and Associate Program Director for the Department of Plastic Surgery Residency. She is also the Vice Chairman for Education within the Department of Plastic Surgery. She trained at Georgetown for both general and plastic surgery.

Megan L. Oltmann, DPM, FACFAS is the Head of Podiatric Surgery and Wound Care at the Bill and Lorraine Dodero Limb Preservation Center at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Medical Director of the University Hospitals Twinsburg Wound Care Center. She is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedics at Case Western Reserve University, core faculty for the University Hospitals Podiatric Surgery Residency Program, and Adjunct Clinical and Surgical Faculty at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Oltmann lectures nationally on limb preservation, wound care, and reconstructive foot and ankle surgery and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. She sits on the Board of Trustees for The Podiatry Foundation. Dr. Oltmann is also a co-author of the bestselling book Chronicles of Women in White Coats 3.

Brenda R. Coupar, DNP, APNP, AGPCNP-BC, CWCN, CFCN, CFCS
Nurse Practitioner, GoodGrace LLC

Brenda Coupar is a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner with 17 years of experience in complex medical care, specializing in amputation prevention and wound management. She has experience with multi-disciplinary, team-based care of high-risk patients with chronic wounds and comorbid conditions, with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention to reduce limb loss.

She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where her scholarly work centered on amputation prevention through risk stratification and coordinated care models. Dr. Coupar has extensive in analyzing and applying widely accepted, evidence-based wound care guidelines, integrating foot care, wound management, and interdisciplinary collaboration to optimize outcomes.

Her background includes leading quality improvement initiatives focused on standardizing foot screening, expanding access to preventative services, and implementing broader strategies to reduce preventable amputations across diverse, at-risk patient populations. She has also facilitated clinical education and competency programs to support healthcare staff in delivering consistent, evidence-based care.

Dr. Coupar is dedicated to advancing practical, evidence-based approaches that equip clinicians to improve outcomes in high-risk and at-risk populations.

Disclaimer: While I have professional experience working for the Federal Government, I present in my individual capacity and not as a representative or on behalf of the Federal Government. The views and content expressed are my own and do not reflect the position, policy, or thoughts of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.

Maria Goddard, MD, CWS, MAPWCA is a burn surgery and mobile wound care specialist in the Midwest. She received training in general surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine and completed fellowship training in burn surgery at both the University of Tennessee-Memphis and the University of Kansas Medical Center. She is board-certified in wound care by both the American Board of Wound Management and the American Board of Wound Healing. She is an instructor for Advanced Burn Life Support and a member of the American Burn Association Aftercare Reintegration Committee. Dr. Goddard also currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Communications Committee and a member of the Education Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care. She also serves on the WoundSource Editorial Advisory Board. She has practiced in multiple care settings, including long-term care, and her extensive training, research, and clinical experiences provide a unique perspective on wound management. Her mission is to bridge gaps among care settings caused by differences in regulations and resource availability. Her interests include burn care, geriatrics, global health, telemedicine, and reducing healthcare disparities.

Cassandre Voltaire, DO, ABWMS is a board-certified family medicine physician with advanced training in wound care and geriatrics. She provides wound care in skilled nursing and long-term care settings, where her work focuses on improving clinical consistency, strengthening interdisciplinary communication, and helping teams prevent avoidable complications through practical, evidence-based systems.

Drawing on her experience as both a certified nursing assistant and physician, Dr. Voltaire brings a frontline perspective to wound prevention, documentation, and clinical escalation. She is passionate about translating complex wound care principles into practical strategies that can be implemented across disciplines and sustained despite staffing challenges.

Dr. Voltaire is the founder of the WoundFit Community, an educational initiative supporting clinicians in developing confidence and competence in wound care, and the creator of the NoGuess™ Wound Care System, a physician-led education and implementation program designed to help skilled nursing facilities build sustainable systems for wound prevention, documentation, and survey readiness.

As a speaker, Dr. Voltaire is committed to making wound care education practical, engaging, and immediately applicable to everyday clinical practice.

Dr. Laura Swoboda is a translational scientist, family nurse practitioner, and wound specialist at University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. They serve as regional director of North America for ISTAP. Dr Swoboda volunteers on various committees and task forces including chairing the Health Equity task force of the AAWC, the NPIAP's prophylactic dressing standards initiative task force terminology group, and co-chair's the American Heart Association's Peripheral Arterial Disease National Action Plan's patient and community education comminttee. Dr. Swoboda is also president of the Milwaukee Metro Nurse Practitioner Association.

Joyce M. Black, PhD, RN is an emertus Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She taught advanced pathophysiology to nurse practitioner, pharmacy and physical therapy students. Dr. Black also supervised research activities of graduate students. She is an Internationally recognized expert in pressure injury prevention and treatment. Dr. Black is a past President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel and has been active in developing many position papers related to the COVID-19 crisis and detecting pressure injury in persons with very dark skin. She is often credited with the rediscovery of deep tissue pressure injury and was inducted into the Academy of Nursing for this work. Dr. Black has received many awards for her work in pressure injury, most recently the Joyce Black Excellence in Teaching Award created for her accomplishments with NPIAP and given to her as the first recipient. A prior award was the Kosiak award from NPIAP for her work to rediscover deep tissue pressure injury.

Dr. Virginia Capasso, PhD, CNP, CNS, CWS, FACCWS, FAAN was an Advanced Practice Nurse for Patient Care Services, Office of Quality, Safety, Informatics, and Practice and a Nurse Scientist, Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research, at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), as well as an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, until March, 2025. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Wound Management. She is a Director on the Board of Directors of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP). Her other NPIAP roles include Co-Chair of the Stage 2 Task Force, member of the Education Committee and conference planning committees, Nominating Committee, Support Surface Standard Initiative (S3I) [2014-present], the international Prophylactic Dressing Standards Initiative (PDSI) [2021-present] and two PDSI subgroups focused on adhesiveness and mechanical properties / durability. Her research has focused on methods of measurement of wound volume and the cost and effectiveness of wound treatments.

Dr. Yi-Ting Tzen, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interest is pressure injury prevention and early detection in people with spinal cord injury and elderly population. Several strategies she has examined with this topic include localized cooling, non-invasive perfusion markers and serum index. She is currently the co-chair of the NPIAP Standards Mission Committee and the taskforce leader of the NPIAP Emerging Leader Program.

Dr. Amaya earned his medical degree from UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and completed his residency in pediatrics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital/Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix. He then returned to Texas for a three-year fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Board-certified in pediatric infectious diseases by the American Board of Pediatrics, Dr. Amaya expanded his scope of practice in 2013 to include pediatric wound care. He currently provides hospital-based consultations in both pediatric infectious diseases and pediatric wound care across five hospitals in the Houston area. He serves as Director of Infectious Disease and Wound Care for the Pediatrix Medical Group, Gulf Coast Division.
Dr. Amaya is a Board Member of the International Society for Pediatric Wound Care. He is widely recognized for his research in complex pediatric wound care, focusing much of his work on neonatal wounds. He has authored numerous scientific abstracts, peer-reviewed journal articles, and textbook chapters, including contributions to both editions of Neonatal and Pediatric Wound Care. He is a frequent speaker at national and international wound care conferences and seminars.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Amaya maintains a balanced lifestyle through yoga, pilates, and swimming. He is also a certified yoga instructor.

Ms. Couch graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing (FNP) from Georgetown University in 2002. She is a Doctoral student in Nursing Practice-Systems Leadership (DNP-SL) at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she works as Director of Wound Care Services and Director of Employee Health Services at The George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. She is an Associate Research Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at George Washington University. Her wound care interests include caring for persons with limb loss/limb differences, complex abdominal wounds, and use of technology in wound healing.
Ms. Couch is the current Chair of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders and the Immediate Past-President of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC). Kara is a Fellow of the Association of the Advancement of Wound Care. Kara also serves on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee of the Amputee Coalition. She is an editorial board member of the International Wound Journal, Journal of Wound Management, and WoundSource 2026. She has authored or co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers and lectures nationally and internationally on wound care topics.

Dr. Gunasekaran is the founder, President and CEO of Encoll Corp. (since 1994). He has directed a number of programs for successful development of tissue regenerative biomedical devices like Helicoll skin substitute in USA and related advanced products outside USA. Dr. Gunasekaran has 40 years of experience in medical device manufacturing and has been in the advisory committee for FDA and the Society for Biomaterials, USA.

Daniel L. Kapp was born and raised in Miami. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and completed medical school at the University of South Florida followed by Plastic Surgery Residency at Ohio State University. He was the Anastasi Fellow in Plastic Surgery at Boston University. Dr. Daniel Kapp is a highly regarded board-certified plastic surgeon and has been in private practice for more than 15 years. He is the founder of Daniel L Kapp Plastic Surgery. He performs many types of plastic and reconstructive surgeries. He has extensive experience treating post Mohs defects and is a highly regarded author on the topic. Dr. Kapp is an editor of Journal of Wound Care. He is co-author of the following key consensus documents: ASPS/American College of Mohs Surgeons Consensus Document on Post Mohs Repair, Journal of Wound Care TIMERS Document, Journal of Wound Healing International CAMPs Consensus Document, and the lead author of the recently published CAMPs for Soft Tissue and Plastic Surgical Reconstruction. In addition, Dr. Kapp is the meeting chair and co-course director for the International CAMPs Conference. He has served as Chief of Surgery at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. He also served as the Medical Director of the Wound Center at Jupiter Medical Center.

Dr. Paula Pons is a General Surgeon, board certified in Wound Care.

A native of Argentina, Dr. Pons attended Medical School at the Catholic University of Cordoba. She immigrated to the US in 1994 and completed her General Surgery Residency at Georgetown University Hospital and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Since 2004, she has dedicated her carreer to wound care. She has served as the Medical Director at the St. Joseph’s Hospital Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine is Fayetteville, NY, and most recently as the Senior Vice president for Physician Development and Medical Support Systems at Healogics, Inc.

Dr. Pons enjoys spending time with her family and traveling. She lives in Manlius, NY with her husband and two children.

Dr. Amy Tucker is a Board-Certified Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in Trauma/Acute Care Orthopedics. Her area of expertise includes diagnosis and treatment of acute orthopedic injuries. Common conditions and specialty areas of her practice include injuries with multiple broken bones, compound and simple fractures, geriatric fracture, osteomyelitis, and wound care.
Dr. Tucker completed her orthopedic residency at Akron General Medical Center and fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic. She has practiced general orthopedics for more than 18 years with an emphasis on Orthopedic Trauma and Acute Care. Dr. Tucker prides herself on providing individualized, patient-centered care through every phase of treatment.

Dr. Raymond Abdo is a board-certified podiatrist with degrees from both Creighton University in Omaha, NE and Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center in Des Moines, IA. He spent three years in podiatric residency at Forest Park Hospital in St. Louis, MO prior to opening his private podiatric practice there in 2005.

Dr. Abdo is also a board-certified physician in wound care and a Fellow of the American Professional Wound Care Association. He currently practices both privately at St. Louis Foot & Ankle and is a staff podiatrist at Mercy Hospital South.

He has participated in multiple wound product related clinical research studies and has published and presented extensively on wound care topics.

Dr. Fife completed a Family Medicine residency at the University of Texas, Southwestern in Dallas followed by a two-year Fellowship in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine at Duke University. Until 2013 she was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston where she initiated the Memorial Hermann Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine and the Lymphedema Center. She is now a Professor of Geriatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Intellicure, LLC, a health information technology company, and the Executive Director of the U.S. Wound Registry, a non-profit organization recognized by CMS as a qualified clinical data registry (QCDR). The USWR develops wound relevant quality measures and helps wound care practitioners meet the requirements of Medicare’s Quality Payment Program. She currently serves on the boards of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders (past co-chair), and CLI Global Society, and she is on the American Diabetes Association's Amputation Prevention Coalition. She is co-chair of the Real World Evidence Work Group for the Wound Care Collaborative Community. Past board activities include the American Academy of Wound Management, the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care, and the American Professional Wound Care Association. She has authored more than 100 peer reviewed articles and book chapters as well as editing 3 textbooks.Her current focus is the use of real world data to find what works in the treatment of chronic wounds.

David G. Armstrong is Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Neurological Surgery with Tenure at the University of Southern California. He has authored over 780 peer-reviewed research papers and 120 books or book chapters. He co-founded the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA) and leads USC's NSF-funded Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (C2SHiP). At C2SHiP, Dr. Armstrong finds himself at the nexus of consumer electronics and medical devices, exploring their integration for enhanced patient care.

Dr. Armstrong's has received numerous awards by national and international institutions including the Georgetown Distinguished Award for Diabetic Limb Salvage and the 2023 ISDF’s Karel Bakker Award. As the first podiatric surgeon to be named fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow, and the Founding President of the American Limb Preservation Society, he has made significant strides in his field. Dr. Armstrong is committed to ending preventable amputation within the next generation, a goal that he advances through fostering innovative interdisciplinary research, clinical practice, and advocacy.

John C. Lantis II, MD, is currently the site Chief and Professor of Surgery at Mount Sinai West Hospital, and the Icahn School of Medicine; in mid-town Manhattan where he practices as a senior vascular surgeon. On January 1, 2024; he was named the Director of advanced wound care; Department of surgery; Mount Sinai healthcare system.
In 2023 he became the Editor in Chief of the journal WOUNDS; a Clinical Compendium. He is the past president of the New York Vascular Surgery Society, a founding member of the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery, and the Vascular Study Group of New York.

Dr. Orgill is a reconstructive plastic surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston who specializes in complex adult reconstructive surgery. He is the Director of the Wound Care Clinic at BWH and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He has a PhD from MIT in Medical Engineering. He is a Plastic Surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Focus his clinical work on adult reconstructive surgery. His research is focused on working to develop better technologies to treat wounds including work with artificial skin, micromechanical forces, platelets and stem cells, and combining biologics, scaffolds and mechanical forces to improve wound healing and tissue engineering constructs. He has consulted for several medical device and start-up companies and is the inventor on several patents.

Charles M Zelen DPM FACFAS earned his Bachelor’s in Psychobiology from UC Riverside and he attended the California College of Podiatric Medicine where he received his doctorate of podiatric medicine and graduated as Valedictorian. He completed his residency at the INVOVA Fairfax Hospital and Georgetown University , where he was trained in foot and ankle surgery and diabetic limb salvage. Dr. Zelen has been in practice in Roanoke, VA for 26 years and serves as Foot and Ankle Section Chief at HCA Lewis Gale Hospital in the Department of Orthopedics. Dr. Zelen is President of the Professional Education and Research Institute , a lower extremity CRO that has been conducting foot and ankle clinical trials since 2005. Dr. Zelen is well published in the podiatric, orthopedic and plastic surgery literature and is considered an expert in limb slavage, wound care and clinical trials involving human tissue grafts.

Dr. Michael N. Desvigne is a true plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has chosen to dedicate his expertise to reconstructive surgery, specifically wound reconstruction. Dr, Desvigne believes performing reconstructive surgery has made him a better wound healing clinician and managing complex wounds has made him a better reconstructive surgeon. Dr. Desvigne brings a wealth of experience from a variety of disciplines. He is board certified in plastic surgery, general surgery, wound care and hyperbaric medicine. With this quadruple certification he approaches each wound problem with a staircase approach including surgical and nonsurgical solutions.

Dr. Desvigne is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). He is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the Arizona Society of Plastic Surgeons. He is also a member of the American Academy of Wound Specialists, Wound Healing Society and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. He is a world-renowned lecturer and consultant in wound healing technologies. He has created multiple programs for inpatient and outpatient centers of excellence in wound care, with a focus on the continuum of care.

Dr. Laura Swoboda is a translational scientist, family nurse practitioner, and wound specialist at University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. They serve as regional director of North America for ISTAP. Dr Swoboda volunteers on various committees and task forces including chairing the Health Equity task force of the AAWC, the NPIAP's prophylactic dressing standards initiative task force terminology group, and co-chair's the American Heart Association's Peripheral Arterial Disease National Action Plan's patient and community education comminttee. Dr. Swoboda is also president of the Milwaukee Metro Nurse Practitioner Association.

Dr. Pamela Scarborough, PT, DPT, MS, CWS, FAAWC, is a clinician, educator, consultant, author, and nationally recognized speaker with nearly five decades of experience across the healthcare continuum. Her diverse background—including orthopedics and sports medicine, cardiac rehabilitation, home health, long-term care, diabetes education, wound management, and the healthcare industry—has shaped her whole-person approach to wound prevention, healing, and functional recovery.

Dr. Scarborough is the Principal of PARKS Institute, an education entity she established in 1998. Today, she provides consulting and educational services through select professional projects, including PAWSIC’s Skin Failure initiative. As Founding Faculty of the Wound Certification Prep Course, she continues to teach, mentor, and prepare clinicians and healthcare industry professionals for wound board certification while contributing to the advancement of wound science and skin integrity education.

A wound care clinician of nearly seven years, published contributor to Wound Source, research presenter, lecturer, and exam committee member and ambassador for the American Board of Wound Management, Liz bridges the gap between evidence-based practice and real-world wound care delivery — and she has been known to make wound care genuinely entertaining, which is arguably her most impressive clinical achievement. Liz has an extreme passion and love for wound care education, research, evidence based practice, and understanding the "why" as well as the "who" behind each wound she treats. She hopes to never stop learning from others, and loves the opportunity to speak to peers.

Amanda Herrick Estapa, MSN, ACNP, CWS, FACCWS, DAPWCA, is a healthcare executive, acute care nurse practitioner, and nationally recognized leader in wound care, clinical operations, and healthcare innovation. With more than 20 years of advanced practice nursing experience and 16 years of executive leadership, she most recently served as Chief Clinical Officer for MedCentris, where she helped build and scale one of the nation's largest clinician-founded wound care organizations.
Throughout her career, Amanda has led enterprise-wide initiatives in clinical governance, evidence-based protocol development, quality improvement, provider recruitment and education, regulatory compliance, and operational strategy across multiple states. She has developed comprehensive clinical education programs, authored evidence-based clinical protocols, and collaborated with interdisciplinary leaders to improve patient outcomes while supporting organizational growth.
Amanda is an accomplished national speaker, published author, and clinical researcher who has served as a Medical Monitor and investigator for multicenter clinical trials. Her work focuses on advancing evidence-based wound care through innovation, technology adoption, implementation science, and multidisciplinary collaboration.
She is passionate about helping healthcare organizations translate scientific evidence into scalable clinical practice while improving quality, operational performance, and patient outcomes.

Dr. Virginia Capasso, PhD, CNP, CNS, CWS, FACCWS, FAAN was an Advanced Practice Nurse for Patient Care Services, Office of Quality, Safety, Informatics, and Practice and a Nurse Scientist, Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research, at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), as well as an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, until March, 2025. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Wound Management. She is a Director on the Board of Directors of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP). Her other NPIAP roles include Co-Chair of the Stage 2 Task Force, member of the Education Committee and conference planning committees, Nominating Committee, Support Surface Standard Initiative (S3I) [2014-present], the international Prophylactic Dressing Standards Initiative (PDSI) [2021-present] and two PDSI subgroups focused on adhesiveness and mechanical properties / durability. Her research has focused on methods of measurement of wound volume and the cost and effectiveness of wound treatments.

Joshua Morriss, Ph.D., serves as the CEO and Cofounder of Ziplitics, a research services corporation for the health sciences. Dr. Morriss obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University, where his research was on explainable artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and QSRR and QSPR models. He has expertise in explainable AI, metabolomics, and natural language processing, with experience in cardiovascular and inflammatory disease management. He is the inventor of the Literature Review Network (LRN), a propriety explainable AI platform for literature reviews, meta-analyses, real world evidence research and health economics outcomes research. As an advocate for trustworthy AI use, Dr. Morriss collaborates with pharmaceutical and medical device companies to conduct cutting-edge evidence-based research and responsibly develop consensus statements that help inform and shape wound care practice. Dr. Morriss has also collaborated with WOCNs and wound-care experts to produce the first ever XAI-assisted Consensus Statement. The evidence underpinning this consensus statement on ostomy care was generated in 5 business days.

Joyce M. Black, PhD, RN is an emertus Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She taught advanced pathophysiology to nurse practitioner, pharmacy and physical therapy students. Dr. Black also supervised research activities of graduate students. She is an Internationally recognized expert in pressure injury prevention and treatment. Dr. Black is a past President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel and has been active in developing many position papers related to the COVID-19 crisis and detecting pressure injury in persons with very dark skin. She is often credited with the rediscovery of deep tissue pressure injury and was inducted into the Academy of Nursing for this work. Dr. Black has received many awards for her work in pressure injury, most recently the Joyce Black Excellence in Teaching Award created for her accomplishments with NPIAP and given to her as the first recipient. A prior award was the Kosiak award from NPIAP for her work to rediscover deep tissue pressure injury.

Paul J. Kim, D.P.M., is the Medical Director of the Wound Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He is also a Tenured Professor in the Departments of Plastic Surgery and Orthopedic Surgery at UT Southwestern. Dr. Kim has received intramural and extramural research grants in wound care, diabetic limb salvage, and tendon pathology. He has chaired multiple committees and has had leadership roles related to research, evidence-based medicine, and the diabetic limb for national and international organizations including the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Kim has also been an invited expert participant/consultant for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA Veterans Affairs (VA), USA Department of Health and Human services (HHS), and Centers for Medicare Services (CMS). He is a national and international speaker with over 300 invited lectures and has authored over 250 basic science, clinical manuscripts, and book chapters on foot and ankle medicine and surgery topics, with a specific interest in the diabetic limb.

Michael Siah, M.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He is a board-certified vascular surgeon and has been practicing at UT Southwestern since 2019.

Dr. Siah earned his medical degree at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine and completed a residency in vascular surgery at Georgetown University Hospital/Washington Hospital Center. He has delivered a number of presentations and published several academic articles and book chapters.

Additionally, he is Director of the Limb Salvage Program in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at UT Southwestern. His primary clinical focus is on therapies for peripheral vascular disease, diabetic limb salvage, complex deep venous disease, and carotid disease.

Martha R. Kelso, RN, CHWS, DAPWCA, HBOT, was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wound Care Plus, LLC, one of the nation’s largest mobile wound care organizations. With over 25 years of advanced clinical experience, Kelso is widely recognized as a trailblazing visionary and entrepreneur in mobile medicine and post-acute care. A passionate educator and regulatory expert, Kelso has trained thousands of clinicians nationwide. Her innovative "trunk-to-bed" model brought advanced, on-site wound treatment directly to patients in post-acute settings,  significantly improving clinical outcomes while reducing overall healthcare costs. 

Beyond her executive leadership, Kelso actively shapes the future of the healthcare landscape through her diverse professional contributions. She serves on numerous national advisory boards, is a clinical editor for prestigious peer-reviewed journals, and is a published author. Additionally, her specialized expertise makes her a highly sought-after consultant for national companies and a trusted expert witness in wound litigation, serving in hundreds of cases across the country. Kelso remains dedicated to driving patient-centered innovation and elevating the art and science of wound healing, while being a driving force for patient access and advocacy.

Dr. Windy Cole, DPM, CWSP, FACCWS, FFPM RCPS (Glasg)

Dr. Windy Cole is a double board-certified podiatric physician and internationally recognized wound care expert with more than 24 years of clinical experience in limb preservation and advanced wound management. She serves as Adjunct Professor and Director of Wound Care Research at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine and is Chief Research Officer for Capsicure Clinical Research Organization.
As the founder of Cole Collaborative Consulting, Dr. Cole partners with biotech and medical device companies to develop evidence generation strategies, strengthen market access pathways, and deliver high-quality scientific and medical communications.
A leader in the integration of emerging technologies into wound care, Dr. Cole has directed numerous clinical trials and contributes her expertise to advisory boards across the biotech and device sectors, providing insight on FDA strategy, clinical trial oversight, medical monitoring and protocol development with real world implementation.
A sought-after speaker at national and international symposia, she is dedicated to advancing patient outcomes through evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation in the management of complex, hard-to-heal wounds.

Dr. Johnson is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery specializing in disorders of the Foot and Ankle with an emphasis on Podiatric Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Johnson completed his medical education at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Johnson went on to complete post-graduate training in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery at HCA Florida Aventura Hospital in Miami, FL. He completed a fellowship in Podiatric Clinical Research and Wound Care at Penn Medicine- University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Johnson earned a Post-Doctoral Certificate in Clinical Research from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine during his fellowship training. Dr. Johnson brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in podiatric surgery with an emphasis on wound healing and prevention. He is board certified in Podiatric Medicine by the American Board of Podiatric Medicine. In addition, Dr. Johnson is a Board-Certified Wound Care Specialist Physician by the American Board of Wound Management. Dr. Johnson serves as an Executive Board Member of Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine and Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons. He was recently elected as President of the Save a Leg Save a Life Foundation (SALSAL). Dr. Johnson is a Fellow of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG).

Dr. Desmond Bell is the Founder and President Emeritus of “The Save A Leg, Save A Life” Foundation, a multi-disciplinary non-profit organization dedicated to the reduction in lower extremity amputations and improving wound healing outcomes through education, evidence-based methodology and community outreach.
He provides consulting services through DP Bell Consulting, LLC, and presently serves as President of WoundScribe.ai, an AI based med-tech platform, and Chief Medical Officer of Capsicure, a Clinical Research Organization. He also serves as a clinical advisor to SygNOLA, Arche Healthcare and other research related projects.
Dr. Bell previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Omeza and was the co-developer of the product platform. In 2020, he joined MD Coaches as an Executive Physician Coach as a peer-to-peer mentor and hostsed "Inside The Doctors Lounge".
Dr. Bell was awarded the Frist Humanitarian Award by Specialty Hospital Jacksonville for 2009 and Memorial Hospital Jacksonville in 2018. He is a Board-Certified Wound Specialist (CWS) having served on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Wound Management for 6 years and the Board of the American Board of Wound Management Foundation. He also serves as a member of the Florida Podiatric Medical Association’s Public Affairs Committee.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
Dr. Bell has published numerous articles primarily pertaining to wound management and lower extremity amputation prevention and served as an Editorial Board Member for the publication “Today’s Wound Clinic”. He is nationally recognized speaker, and Key Opinion Leader.

Kath M. Bogie, D.Phil, FAIMBE, is a Research Career Scientist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center (LSCVAMC) and Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), with an international reputation in leading interdisciplinary teams to develop patient-centered interventions that meet the complex, multifactorial problems of wound management. Contributions include evidence-based preventive measures, including personalized biomarkers and multiomics, complemented with smart and cost-effective technology development. Dr. Bogie is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, recognized for outstanding contributions to wound biotechnology development and patient-centered pressure injury management. Dr. Bogie co-chairs the Education Committee of the Wound Healing Society, having completed a four year term on the Board of Directors. Dr. Bogie is co-Chair for the International Organization for Standardization microclimate standards development and Vice-Chair of the RESNA Standards Committee on Wheelchair and Related Seating. Dr. Bogie is also Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering and serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Tissue Viability and the International Wound Journal. Dr. Bogie directs the CWRU Additive Manufacturing for Biotechnology Core Facility providing support for the development and testing of novel biomedical approaches incorporating additive manufacturing to improve the quality of life and health for all. She has received continuous funding for over 24 years, from the DoD SCI Research Program, VA Rehabilitation Service, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and the Paralyzed Veterans of America. She has published over 90 papers and chapters and holds twelve patents

Dr. Yi-Ting Tzen, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interest is pressure injury prevention and early detection in people with spinal cord injury and elderly population. Several strategies she has examined with this topic include localized cooling, non-invasive perfusion markers and serum index. She is currently the co-chair of the NPIAP Standards Mission Committee and the taskforce leader of the NPIAP Emerging Leader Program.

Dr. Virginia Capasso, PhD, CNP, CNS, CWS, FACCWS, FAAN was an Advanced Practice Nurse for Patient Care Services, Office of Quality, Safety, Informatics, and Practice and a Nurse Scientist, Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research, at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), as well as an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, until March, 2025. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Wound Management. She is a Director on the Board of Directors of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP). Her other NPIAP roles include Co-Chair of the Stage 2 Task Force, member of the Education Committee and conference planning committees, Nominating Committee, Support Surface Standard Initiative (S3I) [2014-present], the international Prophylactic Dressing Standards Initiative (PDSI) [2021-present] and two PDSI subgroups focused on adhesiveness and mechanical properties / durability. Her research has focused on methods of measurement of wound volume and the cost and effectiveness of wound treatments.

Dr Lee Goldstein is a vascular, endovascular, and wound care surgeon currently practicing in Connecticut. He obtained his medical degree from Yale Medical School and then completed training in general surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He finished his training in vascular surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital across the Cornell and Columbia Presbyterian campuses.

Dr Goldstein brings a decades-long experience in wound care with early benchtop research into cellular mechanisms of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and stem cell therapy, along with decades of practice working within wound centers and performing wound care surgery. He has dozens of peer reviewed publications in vascular surgery and wound healing, and is currently the Fairfield regional medical director for wound care in Connecticut.

Adam P. Wright, M.D., a born and raised Texan, graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with a degree in Biomedical Science and History in 2010 before attending Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston where he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 2014. Dr. Wright completed his residency at Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas followed by a joint replacement fellowship at the Tahoe Arthroplasty Fellowship in Reno, Nevada. He is board certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. He practices at Plano Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Center in the suburbs of Dallas.

Dr. Wright focuses primarily on hip and knee replacement surgery and practices state-of-the-art and innovative techniques including robotic-assisted surgery, custom or patient specific implants and instrumentation, complex cases, revisions, and minimally invasive techniques like the subvastus knee and direct anterior hip approach to allow patients to recover more rapidly and with less pain compared to conventional methods. He is an industry consultant and published author and has presented at conferences throughout the United States.

Dr. Wright is married to his wife, Joy, and they have four young children (two older girls and a set of boy/girl twins). When not working he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, hunting, fishing, snowboarding, water sports, staying fit, barbequing, and reading.

Jason R. Hanft DPM FACFAS

Founder Defender Operations
Director, Doctors Research Network, South Miami, FL.
Multiple USA and international patents and trademarks
50+ peer reviewed journal publications
Multiple book chapters published
30 years of clinical research experience
Board Certified American Board of Podiatric Surgery
Fellow American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons
AO/ASIF Fellow, St. Gallan Switzerland
Residency training, Larkin Gen. Hospital, South Miami, FL.
Frequent lecturer
Active clinician and researcher
Past Director Podiatric Medical Education, South Miami Hospital/Baptist Health

Dr. Kirsner is Chairman, Tenured Professor and the endowed Harvey Blank Chair in the Dr. Phillip Frost Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is Chief of Dermatology at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics and Jackson Memorial Hospital and directs the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center. Dr. Kirsner received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, his medical degree from the University of Miami and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Miami, after he completed his clinical training. His clinical training included internal medicine, a clinical and research fellowship in wound healing and dermatology at the University of Miami. His research interests include Wound Healing and Skin Cancer Epidemiology. Dr. Kirsner serves as one of 3 academic editors for the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration and on the editorial boards for several other journals in dermatology and wound healing. Dr. Kirsner serves in national leadership positions in both Wound Healing and Dermatology, including serving as past Vice President of the American Academy of Dermatology and is currently President of the Wound Healing. In addition to career development awards, foundation, industry sponsored funding and CDC funding, he currently leads or is part of several NIH funded grants. Independent of books, book chapters and abstracts, he has published over 650 articles.

Erwin A. Kruger, M.D. is a reconstructive plastic surgeon and hand surgeon at Mayo Clinic Arizona, with additional special interest in the management of complex wounds and regenerative medicine. His clinical interests include:

Reconstructive plastic surgery and hand surgery
Advanced wound care and regenerative medicine
Translational Biomedical Engineering
Military medicine

In addition his clinical activities, Dr. Kruger is active in translational research and education, investigating regenerative medicine technologies and providing mentorship to medical students and residents. He is the Medical Student Subinternship directore and enjoys teaching surgical skills through the Center for Military Medicine.

David G. Armstrong is Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Neurological Surgery with Tenure at the University of Southern California. He has authored over 780 peer-reviewed research papers and 120 books or book chapters. He co-founded the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA) and leads USC's NSF-funded Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (C2SHiP). At C2SHiP, Dr. Armstrong finds himself at the nexus of consumer electronics and medical devices, exploring their integration for enhanced patient care.

Dr. Armstrong's has received numerous awards by national and international institutions including the Georgetown Distinguished Award for Diabetic Limb Salvage and the 2023 ISDF’s Karel Bakker Award. As the first podiatric surgeon to be named fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow, and the Founding President of the American Limb Preservation Society, he has made significant strides in his field. Dr. Armstrong is committed to ending preventable amputation within the next generation, a goal that he advances through fostering innovative interdisciplinary research, clinical practice, and advocacy.

Dr. Michael N. Desvigne is a true plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has chosen to dedicate his expertise to reconstructive surgery, specifically wound reconstruction. Dr, Desvigne believes performing reconstructive surgery has made him a better wound healing clinician and managing complex wounds has made him a better reconstructive surgeon. Dr. Desvigne brings a wealth of experience from a variety of disciplines. He is board certified in plastic surgery, general surgery, wound care and hyperbaric medicine. With this quadruple certification he approaches each wound problem with a staircase approach including surgical and nonsurgical solutions.

Dr. Desvigne is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). He is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the Arizona Society of Plastic Surgeons. He is also a member of the American Academy of Wound Specialists, Wound Healing Society and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. He is a world-renowned lecturer and consultant in wound healing technologies. He has created multiple programs for inpatient and outpatient centers of excellence in wound care, with a focus on the continuum of care.

Brief Biosketch:
Ira M. Herman, Ph.D.
Professor and Director, Emeritus
Center for Innovations in Wound Healing Research
Tufts University School of Medicine
150 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02111

Ira M. Herman, Ph.D.
Chief Science Officer
Tissue Health Plus
Email: ira@tissuehealthplus.com
Mobile: 617.388.6124
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ira-herman-14457517/

For the entirety of his discovery- and innovation-based career, and since his days in training at Tulane University, Harvard Medical School and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and to the present as Chief Science Officer, Tissue Health Plus, Dr Herman has been devoted to understanding the basic mechanisms that control the fundamental properties of life, including motility, repair and regeneration at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. As a global thought leader, Dr. Herman and his colleagues have made several seminal contributions to our understanding the molecular mechanisms that control post-injury responses, while unveiling those central factors, signaling networks and supramolecular complexes responsible for regulating host reparative responses. These fundamental insights have given way to innovative strategies and inventions aimed at controlling wound healing, while converting non-healing wounds into those capable of closure. As a lead innovator and key opinion leader, Dr. Herman has chaired and served on innumerable grant review panels and editorial boards for high-impact
journals. He has received numerous awards, published 100s of peer-reviewed scientific publications and is named inventor on many US and international patents describing advanced diagnostics and therapeutics for next generation, precision health care and a member of the National Academy of Inventors.

Dr. Kirsner is Chairman, Tenured Professor and the endowed Harvey Blank Chair in the Dr. Phillip Frost Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is Chief of Dermatology at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics and Jackson Memorial Hospital and directs the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center. Dr. Kirsner received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, his medical degree from the University of Miami and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Miami, after he completed his clinical training. His clinical training included internal medicine, a clinical and research fellowship in wound healing and dermatology at the University of Miami. His research interests include Wound Healing and Skin Cancer Epidemiology. Dr. Kirsner serves as one of 3 academic editors for the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration and on the editorial boards for several other journals in dermatology and wound healing. Dr. Kirsner serves in national leadership positions in both Wound Healing and Dermatology, including serving as past Vice President of the American Academy of Dermatology and is currently President of the Wound Healing. In addition to career development awards, foundation, industry sponsored funding and CDC funding, he currently leads or is part of several NIH funded grants. Independent of books, book chapters and abstracts, he has published over 650 articles.

Dr. Paula Pons is a General Surgeon, board certified in Wound Care.

A native of Argentina, Dr. Pons attended Medical School at the Catholic University of Cordoba. She immigrated to the US in 1994 and completed her General Surgery Residency at Georgetown University Hospital and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Since 2004, she has dedicated her carreer to wound care. She has served as the Medical Director at the St. Joseph’s Hospital Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine is Fayetteville, NY, and most recently as the Senior Vice president for Physician Development and Medical Support Systems at Healogics, Inc.

Dr. Pons enjoys spending time with her family and traveling. She lives in Manlius, NY with her husband and two children.

Dr. Dove is the Director of Clinical Research at the Department of Orthopaedics, Division of Podiatry at UT Health Science San Antonio. Dr. Dove has served as a Principal Investigator in over 50 clinical trials, over the past twenty years. She is currently establishing a research program, in which her colleagues, residents and students will be actively engaged.

She earned the Degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine at California College of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco, CA, She also completed her Post Graduate Training at The University of Texas, Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas under the tutelage of Dr. Lawrence Harkless. She completed a surgical fellowship at North General Hospital, in New York, NY.

Dr. Dove was previously in private practice in Las Vegas. Her private practice combined industry sponsored research and general podiatry, with a focus on wound care. Before opening her practice, Dr. Dove was the director of podiatry at the Diabetic foot and Ankle Center - Hospital for Joint Disease - NYU. Concurrently, she served as the sub-investigator for multiple Phase I-IV clinical trials.

Dr. Dove has multiple publications, including the Lancet and other peer-reviewed journals.

Mary Anne has extensive experience in ICU nursing and also spent many years as a flight nurse.

Mary Anne’s experience at Regions Hospital includes staff nurse on the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Trauma Nurse Clinician, Neurosurgical Nurse Clinician, and FCCS(Fundamentals of Critical Care Support) coordinator.

Mary Anne speaks nationally and internationally about the challenges of fistula care and complex wounds. She is the creator of Fistula Solution products and holds seven patents. She has published articles in Journal of American College of Surgeons, Wounds, Surgical Technology International, Clinical Nutrition, Current Dialogues in Wound Management and The Clinics of North America: Emergency Nursing.

Dot has been practicing in the specialty of wound and ostomy care for over 4 decades. She has practiced in acute care, home care and long-term care, spent 7 years in industry, and has practiced in outpatient care since 2001. She has been Board Certified by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Certification Board since 1985 and The American Board of Wound Management since 2004. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers and consensus documents, and 14 book chapters. She is the Co-Chair of the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, was part of the founding faculty for the Wound Certification Prep Course, is a committe member of the International Wound Infection Institute, and works as a Consultant and Educator and lives in Holland, Michigan. She works part time at the Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Clinic at Holland Hospital.

Daniel Andrade da Cunha, PhD, is Research Director at Flen Health and a molecular and cellular biologist with more than 20 years of experience spanning academia and the biopharmaceutical industry. He has led multidisciplinary research teams in drug discovery, target identification, assay development, and biomarker strategy across therapeutic areas including wound healing, oncology, and diabetes. Dr. Andrade da Cunha has authored 45 peer-reviewed publications and has been awarded five national and international research grants.

Julie Kerckhof is US Business Strategy Director at Flen Health, where she leads the company’s strategic activities related to the US market. With a background in finance and business, she began her career in banking before joining Flen Health in 2015.
Throughout her career at Flen Health, Julie has led multidisciplinary teams across departments and contributed to the company’s growth through roles spanning finance, marketing leadership, and strategic business development. In her current role, she is responsible for advancing the US project, aligning internal teams around key priorities, and supporting the execution of Flen Health’s long-term ambitions.

Dr. Slade is a dual board-certified subspecialist in pediatrics and clinical immunology with more than 30 years of industry-based experience in clinical research and drug development, having >100 peer-reviewed publications to date with >2,500 citations. He has directed >300 clinical trials of drugs, biologics and devices.
After holding academic appointments at the University of Michigan and Cornell University Medical Center, he left academia in 1989 to work with Jonas Salk, MD, on an HIV therapeutic vaccine joint venture, taking the position of Director of AIDS and Immunology at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi-Aventis).
In 1994, he joined 3M Pharmaceuticals as Chief Medical Officer, overseeing a global clinical research staff of 200 people located in US, EU, Latin America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Product development spanned a range of disease targets and pharmacologic approaches, including a groundbreaking new class of immune response modifiers for viral infections and cancer. Dr. Slade joined Healthpoint in 2006 to develop clinical research capabilities in advance of moving the business into the biotherapeutics arena, and subsequently served as CMO and VP of R&D for Smith & Nephew’s Advanced Wound Management division.
Since 2017 Dr. Slade has provided consulting services in clinical development to a range of large and small pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and tissue based companies. Dr. Slade served on the Board of Directors and as treasurer of the Wound Healing Society for seven years. Dr. Slade earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., followed by his medical degree from State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. He completed his pediatrics residency training at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, followed by a fellowship in clinical immunology at the University of Michigan.

Georgios Theocharidis, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Principal Investigator at the Rongxiang Xu, MD, Center for Regenerative Therapeutics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. With multidisciplinary training spanning computer engineering, biomedical engineering, and cell biology, his research focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying impaired diabetic wound healing and translating these discoveries into new regenerative therapies. His laboratory integrates single-cell and spatial multi-omics with preclinical models to define the immune-stromal-epithelial-endothelial interactions that distinguish healing from non-healing diabetic wounds. His work further leverages bioengineering approaches to therapeutically reprogram the wound microenvironment, including engineered cell therapies, localized cytokine delivery, mRNA therapeutics, and pharmacological modulation of inflammatory pathways.

Patience Karsten, DNP, ARNP, FNP-BC, FNP-C, CHWS, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner specializing in Adult Family Practice, advanced wound healing, and hyperbaric medicine. She is the owner and director of Oasis Healogy Clinic, providing both mobile and office-based wound care services.
Before beginning her private practice, Dr. Karsten worked as a Wound Care and Hyperbaric Provider at Astria Health, where she gained extensive experience in advanced wound management, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and multidisciplinary patient care.

Dr. Karsten earned her Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration in Family Practice from Chamberlain University and later completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a concentration in Leadership at Capella University. She received her Certified Hyperbaric and Wound Specialist credential through the American Board of Wound Healing.

Driven by her passion and commitment to wound care, Dr. Karsten provides lectures and educational presentations at guest schools and conducts educational sessions for nursing students, healthcare professionals, Adult Family Homes, and Family Nurse Practitioner meetings and councils. She is dedicated to advancing evidence-based wound care practices and improving healthcare education within the community.

Dr. Karsten is also a Corporate Partner of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. She travels throughout Washington State to provide care to patients in Adult Family Homes and nursing facilities while also remaining committed to serving vulnerable populations, including individuals experiencing homelessness in the Yakima community.

Dr. Jose Jaller is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the University of Miami Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery. Prior to dermatology residency, he completed a two-year wound healing research fellowship and a two-year dermatopharmacology fellowship, which helped shape his focus on clinical research and therapeutic development in dermatology and wound healing. Dr. Jaller specializes in complex medical dermatology and the management of chronic and atypical wounds. He cares for patients at the University of Miami Wound Center, where he regularly manages difficult to heal ulcers and complex inflammatory wound conditions. His clinical and research work focuses on improving the diagnosis and treatment of challenging wounds and advancing clinical research in wound care. Dr. Jaller frequently lectures at national and international meetings on wound healing and complex dermatologic disease.

Arati Bhosale (Dr.B)-Global Director of Regulatory Affairs, Serena Groups Inc.
Arati Bhosale is a globally recognized healthcare innovator and the Global Director of Regulatory Affairs at Serena Groups Inc., bringing over 17 years of expertise at the intersection of clinical research, regulatory strategy, and health technology. Her career has been defined by a singular mission-transforming rigorous science into real-world patient impact, at scale.
Arati has led and optimized clinical trial operations across multiple phases and international markets, navigating complex regulatory frameworks including FDA, EMA/MDR, and ICH guidelines with both precision and agility. In the wound care space, her regulatory acumen and operational discipline translate directly into accelerating therapy development, ensuring compliance, and improving patient outcomes without sacrificing speed or quality.
A visionary in HealthTech, Arati has built AI-driven platforms designed to streamline clinical workflows and turn complex datasets into confident, actionable decisions. She is equally at home in regulatory discussions, product strategy sessions, and clinical education forums-a communicator who bridges science, technology, and human behavior with clarity.
At this conference, Arati presents as a leading regulatory voice on the evolving landscape of CAMP wound products; offering expert perspective on the strategic pivot, compliance pathways, and regulatory future that will define how these therapies reach, and transform patient care.

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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Joyce M. Black, PhD, RN is an emertus Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She taught advanced pathophysiology to nurse practitioner, pharmacy and physical therapy students. Dr. Black also supervised research activities of graduate students. She is an Internationally recognized expert in pressure injury prevention and treatment. Dr. Black is a past President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel and has been active in developing many position papers related to the COVID-19 crisis and detecting pressure injury in persons with very dark skin. She is often credited with the rediscovery of deep tissue pressure injury and was inducted into the Academy of Nursing for this work. Dr. Black has received many awards for her work in pressure injury, most recently the Joyce Black Excellence in Teaching Award created for her accomplishments with NPIAP and given to her as the first recipient. A prior award was the Kosiak award from NPIAP for her work to rediscover deep tissue pressure injury.

David Brienza is Professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and is Associate Dean for Technology and Innovation in the School. He is trained as an engineer and has considerable additional experience conducting clinical and preclinical research. Over the past 34 years, his research has been funded through grants from National Institutes of Health and other public and private foundations, and industry sources. The majority of this work has been focused on tissue integrity management. Current and recently completed projects include a clinical trial on support surface effectiveness in acute care and the development and validation of support surface and dressing performance standards. Dr. Brienza currently serves as President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel.

Janet Cuddigan, PhD, RN, FAAN is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Nursing in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a recipient of the the NPIAP's Kosiak Award and President's Award. She has 40 years of critical care clinical experience. Her research focuses on physiological risks for pressure injury development in critical care, prevention of medical device related pressure injuries and PPE related injuries. She currently serves as the Chair of the 4th Edition International Pressure Injury Guideline Governance Group.

B.S Ohio Sate University(1994)
M.D. University of Cincinnati(1998)
Emergency Medicine Residency-Ohio State University(Chief Resident 2001)
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine-Emory University School of Medicine(2001-2010)
Hyperbaric Physicians of Georgia(2010)
Chief Medical Officer-HPG(2014-current)
CEO-Regenerative and Hyperbaric Medicine(2023-current)

Robert G. Frykberg, DPM, MPH, FFPM(Glasg) is the Podiatry Residency Director and Professor, Department of Orthopaedics at UT Health San Antonio. An Honorary Professor of Podiatric Medicine at University of Galway, he was also the former Chief of the Podiatry section and Residency Director at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
A former Chair of the Foot Care Council of the American Diabetes Association and Past President of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, Dr. Frykberg was the 2011 recipient of the prestigious Roger Pecoraro Award from the Foot Care Council of the American Diabetes Association.
He received his Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1994 with a concentration in quantitative methods.
Dr. Frykberg’s research and writing interests have included all facets of lower extremity disorders, but specifically focused on diabetic foot ulcers, infections, Charcot foot, Surgery, and Wound care. The author of over 100 peer reviewed publications and textbook chapters, he has also been the Editor of two textbooks: The High Risk Foot in Diabetes Mellitus (1991) and the Diabetic Charcot Foot (2010). Prof. Frykberg is currently a Director of the International Association of Diabetic Foot Surgeons, a Fellow of the Faculty of Podiatric Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and a Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine.

Prateek Grover, MBBS, PhD, MHA, FAAPMR, is a physician-scientist-educator specializing in limb loss, limb difference, and limb preservation. At the Penn State College of Medicine, he serves as an Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (with an adjunct appointment in Biomedical Engineering) and as the Vice Chair of Quality and Safety.
His career is dedicated to mapping patient journeys through complex health systems, using implementation science to design, develop, and implement diagnosis-specific rehabilitation continuum (DRC) programs. For limb loss, this work is anchored by his development of the Multilevel Limb Loss and Preservation Rehabilitation Continuum (MLPRC) model and the Lower Limb Loss Rehabilitation Continuum (LLRC) framework.
Dr. Grover translates these models into practice as the Founding Director of the Penn State LimbRehabCaRES Center, an innovation hub where multidisciplinary care, research, education, and advocacy converge to create scalable patient-focused solutions.
This expertise informs his national impact as well, as the Medical Director of the Amputee Coalition, Chair of the Policy and Legislation Committee for the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), and physician leader for Pennsylvania in the "So Every Body Can Move" initiative.
By integrating clinical excellence and research with workforce development and legislative advocacy, he works toward a broader mission: building sustainable rehabilitation systems that improve quality of life and healthcare access at a population scale.

Dr. Johnson is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery specializing in disorders of the Foot and Ankle with an emphasis on Podiatric Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Johnson completed his medical education at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Johnson went on to complete post-graduate training in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery at HCA Florida Aventura Hospital in Miami, FL. He completed a fellowship in Podiatric Clinical Research and Wound Care at Penn Medicine- University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Johnson earned a Post-Doctoral Certificate in Clinical Research from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine during his fellowship training. Dr. Johnson brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in podiatric surgery with an emphasis on wound healing and prevention. He is board certified in Podiatric Medicine by the American Board of Podiatric Medicine. In addition, Dr. Johnson is a Board-Certified Wound Care Specialist Physician by the American Board of Wound Management. Dr. Johnson serves as an Executive Board Member of Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine and Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons. He was recently elected as President of the Save a Leg Save a Life Foundation (SALSAL). Dr. Johnson is a Fellow of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG).

Ms. Couch graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing (FNP) from Georgetown University in 2002. She is a Doctoral student in Nursing Practice-Systems Leadership (DNP-SL) at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she works as Director of Wound Care Services and Director of Employee Health Services at The George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. She is an Associate Research Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at George Washington University. Her wound care interests include caring for persons with limb loss/limb differences, complex abdominal wounds, and use of technology in wound healing.
Ms. Couch is the current Chair of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders and the Immediate Past-President of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC). Kara is a Fellow of the Association of the Advancement of Wound Care. Kara also serves on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee of the Amputee Coalition. She is an editorial board member of the International Wound Journal, Journal of Wound Management, and WoundSource 2026. She has authored or co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers and lectures nationally and internationally on wound care topics.

David Brienza is Professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and is Associate Dean for Technology and Innovation in the School. He is trained as an engineer and has considerable additional experience conducting clinical and preclinical research. Over the past 34 years, his research has been funded through grants from National Institutes of Health and other public and private foundations, and industry sources. The majority of this work has been focused on tissue integrity management. Current and recently completed projects include a clinical trial on support surface effectiveness in acute care and the development and validation of support surface and dressing performance standards. Dr. Brienza currently serves as President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel.

Joyce M. Black, PhD, RN is an emertus Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She taught advanced pathophysiology to nurse practitioner, pharmacy and physical therapy students. Dr. Black also supervised research activities of graduate students. She is an Internationally recognized expert in pressure injury prevention and treatment. Dr. Black is a past President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel and has been active in developing many position papers related to the COVID-19 crisis and detecting pressure injury in persons with very dark skin. She is often credited with the rediscovery of deep tissue pressure injury and was inducted into the Academy of Nursing for this work. Dr. Black has received many awards for her work in pressure injury, most recently the Joyce Black Excellence in Teaching Award created for her accomplishments with NPIAP and given to her as the first recipient. A prior award was the Kosiak award from NPIAP for her work to rediscover deep tissue pressure injury.

Ryan Dirks is a physician associate, healthcare entrepreneur, and executive leader focused on expanding access to high-quality wound medicine and limb preservation for medically complex and underserved patient populations. He serves as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of United Wound Healing, a multi-state practice delivering bedside and mobile wound medicine services across skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, and home settings. Under his leadership, the organization has grown to include more than 50 wound care specialists and serves over 25,000 patients each year. He is also the co-founder of Open Wound Research.

Ryan’s work emphasizes clinical excellence, operational scalability, and data-driven quality improvement. He has led the development of specialized wound healing registries, evidence-based treatment pathways, and chronic care management programs designed to reduce avoidable hospitalizations and lower-extremity amputations while improving long-term healing outcomes. His leadership approach centers on provider empowerment, organizational health, and a culture of mission-driven service.

Dr. Shawn Naqvi serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer for Personic Health. Dr. Naqvi has always had a passion for multidisciplinary care focused on the individual needs of patients.

He attended George Mason University, Georgetown University, and Virginia Tech University locally, before completing his Internal Medicine residency training in the Philadelphia area at Christiana Care Hospital. He is board certified in Internal Medicine.

He also participates in medical education with medical students and resident physicians. Dr. Naqvi is passionate about underserved medicine and devoting his time to directorship roles in clinical practice improvements. He brings his experience as a clinical collaborator and ardent patient advocate to Personic Health.

Dr. Dove is the Director of Clinical Research at the Department of Orthopaedics, Division of Podiatry at UT Health Science San Antonio. Dr. Dove has served as a Principal Investigator in over 50 clinical trials, over the past twenty years. She is currently establishing a research program, in which her colleagues, residents and students will be actively engaged.

She earned the Degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine at California College of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco, CA, She also completed her Post Graduate Training at The University of Texas, Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas under the tutelage of Dr. Lawrence Harkless. She completed a surgical fellowship at North General Hospital, in New York, NY.

Dr. Dove was previously in private practice in Las Vegas. Her private practice combined industry sponsored research and general podiatry, with a focus on wound care. Before opening her practice, Dr. Dove was the director of podiatry at the Diabetic foot and Ankle Center - Hospital for Joint Disease - NYU. Concurrently, she served as the sub-investigator for multiple Phase I-IV clinical trials.

Dr. Dove has multiple publications, including the Lancet and other peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Michael P Ogilvie is a double-board certified Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon who has been in practice since 2017.
Originally from Chicago, IL, Dr. Ogilvie completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, graduating cum laude in field. He completed his dual degree MD/MBA at the University of Chicago before completing his General Surgery training, including a two-year Trauma and Critical Care research fellowship, at the University of Miami. His post-graduate training culminated in a three-year fellowship in Plastic and Reconstructive surgery at Duke University.
Dr. Ogilvie is an attending surgeon at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, IL, which is a Level 1 Trauma Center, with a practice that focuses on general plastic surgery, reconstructive facial trauma surgery, wound care management and breast reconstruction.
Dr. Ogilvie has a proven track record of thought-leadership and innovation in his field as evidenced with over 25 peer reviewed articles, various other book chapters and numerous presentations in his name.