SAWC Spring | WHS 2027 Agenda

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.

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

Dr. Piul Rabbani is an Assistant Professor in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery as well as Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at New York University School of Medicine. Her lab’s research program is focused on the identification of intercellular communication mechanisms that are deficient in chronic non-healing diabetic cutaneous wounds, with particular interest in compensating with mesenchymal progenitor cell populations. Dr. Rabbani’s lab is investigating extracellular vesicles as mediators of cellular conversation and exploring means of maximizing therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles harvested from adult multipotent stromal cells. She is also involved in incorporating exosome-based approaches with biomaterials to develop translatable delivery vehicles. Dr. Rabbani did her post-doctoral work with Dr. Daniel Ceradini on multipotent stromal cells, their metabolic regulation, and application within diabetic wound healing. She did her graduate work with Dr. Mayumi Ito, investigating the co-regulation of melanocyte and hair follicle epithelial stem cells.

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. Chandan K. Sen, PhD, FNAI, is a distinguished figure in regenerative medicine and wound care. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Sen is the inaugural Bartley Griffith Chair in Regenerative Medicine at the Dept. of Surgery and directs the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He also serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Life Sciences Innovation and Commercialization at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Sen's leadership focuses on advancing health care research vital to Pittsburgh's future, fostering collaborations with local and national partners, and facilitating the translation of scientific discoveries into practical applications for patients. With a career spanning over three decades, Dr. Sen's research has been instrumental in developing innovative solutions for tissue injury, regeneration, and infection management. Notable breakthroughs include pioneering technologies such as tissue nanotransfection and electroceutical infection management. He is the current vice-chair and chair-elect of the national NIH-funded Diabetic Foot Consortium. Dr. Sen's contributions have earned prestigious recognitions, including the 2018 Edison Award for Innovation and the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. With an extensive publication record, Dr. Sen’s work has been cited over 55000 times in the literature with current H-index 119.

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

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

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

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

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

Dr. Swathi Balaji is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital (BCM/TCH) in Houston, Texas. The research in her laboratory focuses on understanding the sequelae of fibrosis in response to dermal injuries in postnatal patients, with a particular emphasis on understanding 1) how individuals from broad patient demographics respond to similar injuries with significantly “heterogeneous” scarring patterns that lead to a spectrum of postnatal fibrotic outcomes, and 2) why scars persist once formed. She is currently studying the fibroblast energy metabolism and inter cellular signaling mechanisms that communicate and regulate the fibrogenic phenotype mediated via the secretion of extracellular vesicles also known as exosomes. Prior to joining BCM/TCH in 2015, Dr. Balaji received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2010 from the University of Cincinnati, where she first gained interest in wound healing and tissue regeneration when she had the opportunity to work with Professors Daria Narmoneva, Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati and Timothy Crombleholme, M.D. at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She then worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Sundeep Keswani’s Laboratory at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she studied the scarless wound healing mechanisms of the fetal regenerative responses.

Simon Matoori is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Université de Montréal in Québec, Canada. His bioengineering laboratory develops new wound dressings for molecular diagnostics at the point-of-care in diabetic foot ulcers.

Ed Sander is a Professor in the Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa, with secondary appointments in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Therapy. He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University. He was also a visiting research associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and a research associate at the Cincinnati Shriners Hospital for Children and the Department of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Sander’s research interests are broad, span multiple disciplines, and include both computational and experimental work. His primary focus is on the role of mechanobiological processes in wound healing, fibrosis, and scar formation. He has secured multiple federal and private foundation grants including an NSF CAREER award. He is the Director of Graduate studies and was the Director of the NSF REU on Computational Bioengineering. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers. He is the editor-in-chief of the Biomedical Engineering Society journal Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering.

Dr. Kara Spiller is a Professor in Drexel University's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems. Her research interests include the role of immune cells in tissue regeneration, the design of immunomodulatory biomaterials, and international engineering education. Her research is funded by the NIH, the NSF, and private foundations. Her awards include a Fulbright fellowship, the NSF CAREER award, and the United States nomination for the ASPIRE prize.

Dr. Helena Zomer's research focus is on regenerative medicine approaches to improve skin wound healing and regeneration. Dr. Zomer's training as a veterinary doctor and molecular, developmental, and cell biologist gives her a singular set of skills and a unique research perspective. As a veterinarian scientist, Dr. Zomer follows the One Health concept, so that her research programs aim to benefit both human and animal health. Dr. Zomer's current work aims to understand the mechanisms and develop new therapeutics leading to robust skin wound healing using a novel acellular approach based on physiologically modulated mesenchymal stem/stromal cell secretomes.

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

Dr. Luis Garza is a Professor & Daniel Nathans Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Dermatology. He is a physician scientist who sees Dermatology patients and also conducts research on skin disease. His laboratory is interested in regenerative medicine, innate immunity and the disease Hidradenitis Suppurativa. Besides directing the Hidradenitis Suppurative clinic and conducting research, Dr. Garza is also committed to teaching and is the PI/PD of an NIH T32. Finally, he also works as a Vice-Chair of the department of Dermatology.

Dr. Dana T. Graves is Professor in the Department of Periodontics and Vice Dean for Scholarship and Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, where he also directs the Doctor of Science in Dentistry program. Dr. Graves received his DDS degree from Columbia University and his DMSc degree in Oral Biology and Certificate in Periodontics from Harvard University. His research focus includes the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate normal and diabetic wound healing, with particular emphasis on how diabetes-induced inflammation alters epithelial, fibroblast, and mesenchymal responses. His laboratory has defined important roles for FOXO1, TNF, and related inflammatory pathways in impaired diabetic tissue repair and has used genetic models, and single-cell transcriptomics to identify mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. This research is supported by multiple NIH R01 grants. Dr. Graves has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and has received research honors including the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Basic Research in Periodontal Disease, the Wound Healing Research Scholarship Award, and the IADR/PRG Award in Regenerative Periodontal Medicine. He serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Dental Research.

Dr Vickie R. Driver is System Wide Medical Director of the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Centers at INOVA Healthcare in the DC Metropolitan area and is Professor, University of Virginia, School of Medicine. She is also Fellow, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons-Glasgow, PM and Inaugural Fellow, Assoc for the Advancement of Wound Care, FAAWC. Dr Driver has accepted the position as Chair, Board of Directors for the Wound Care Collaborative Community, an important collaboration with the FDA, CMS and the NIH and received a prestigious honor of receiving The Robert A. Warriner III, MD Memorial Award. She is Board Certified with American Board of Podiatric Surgeons and is a Fellow at the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, licensed in VA, MA, and RI. Her career has a special emphasis on wound healing and limb preservation, and she is proud to be an outspoken ambassador for improving care to patients that face

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

Dr. Piul Rabbani is an Assistant Professor in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery as well as Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at New York University School of Medicine. Her lab’s research program is focused on the identification of intercellular communication mechanisms that are deficient in chronic non-healing diabetic cutaneous wounds, with particular interest in compensating with mesenchymal progenitor cell populations. Dr. Rabbani’s lab is investigating extracellular vesicles as mediators of cellular conversation and exploring means of maximizing therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles harvested from adult multipotent stromal cells. She is also involved in incorporating exosome-based approaches with biomaterials to develop translatable delivery vehicles. Dr. Rabbani did her post-doctoral work with Dr. Daniel Ceradini on multipotent stromal cells, their metabolic regulation, and application within diabetic wound healing. She did her graduate work with Dr. Mayumi Ito, investigating the co-regulation of melanocyte and hair follicle epithelial stem cells.

Dr. Zgheib is a clinical and scientific expert with extensive experience in biomedical innovation, focusing on addressing unmet medical needs to improve patient outcomes. He serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at Ceria Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapies to regulate inflammation and promote healing. Additionally, he is a faculty member in the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona, with joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Pharmacology.
Dr. Zgheib holds a PhD in Medical Pharmacology and Toxicology, emphasizing inflammation-driven tissue repair and regeneration. His academic background includes a Master’s in Pharmacology and Cosmetology, a Master’s in Biomedical Sciences, and a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry. He completed advanced research training at the Prebys Sanford Burnham Medical Discovery Institute, focusing on inflammation and oxidative stress in injury and identifying therapeutic approaches to enhance healing.
Dr. Zgheib’s expertise spans regenerative medicine, tissue repair, nanotechnology, and biomaterials. He has authored multiple scientific publications and holds several U.S. and international patents. His contributions to the field have been recognized with awards such as the 2023 Wound Healing Society Mid-Career Faculty Award, the 2021 WHF-Medline Innovation Award, and the 2018 Owen H. Wangensteen Excellence in Research Award from the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Zgheib’s leadership and research continue to drive advancements in therapeutic development and patient care.

Dr. Marston is currently the George Johnson Jr Distinguished Professor of Surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Dr Marston is a graduate of Harvard University and received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed a general surgical residency and fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. His research interests include the diagnosis and management of chronic venous insufficiency, the treatment of critical limb ischemia, and advanced therapies for healing chronic wounds. He has been a clinical investigator on over 50 clinical trials in the areas listed above, both on the local and national level and has experience in the design and conduct of clinical trials at all levels of the approval process.

Dr. White-Chu is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) and is the medical director of the Wound Healing Program at the Portland VA Health Care System (VAPHCS). She serves on the board of the Wound Healing Society and is the Co-Chair of the Government Relations Committee and an active member of the Education Committee.

Dr. Jozic is a Research Associate Professor in the Dr.Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery. He did his postdoctoral training in the lab of Marjana Tomic-Canic at UM, where he focused on understanding molecular mechanisms by which glucocorticoids inhibit wound healing. He was a previous winner of the 3M Fellowship from the Wound Healing Foundation in 2015, Young Investigator Award from WHS in 2018, as well as the H. Paul Ehrlich Rising Star Award from the Wound Healing Foundation in 2022. His research interests are aimed at understanding the role of lipid rafts in cutaneous biology, particularly focusing on chronic wounds, hypertrophic scarring, scarring alopecia, psoriasis and age-related changes in skin. On the basic science level, Dr. Jozic seeks to understand how cells navigate the complex 3D environment to promote directionality and cohesiveness necessary for successful wound closure. He has identified caveolin-1 as a potential biomarker of older skin and non-healing chronic wounds and is now trying to understand the intricate mechanisms by which caveolin proteins regulate cell migration. Currently, Dr. Jozic's lab is working on developing lipidomic and proteomic approaches to identify biomarkers of various skin diseases which will in the early detection of chronic wounds and provide targeted treatments as well as to develop novel formulations for targeting these molecules.

Dr. Juliane Nguyen is Professor and Vice Chair in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Founding Director of the C3 Drug Delivery CTSA Predoctoral Training Program. Her interdisciplinary research integrates molecular engineering and pharmaceutical sciences to develop personalized biotherapeutics for myocardial infarction, wound healing, colitis, cancer, and other diseases. She has overseen a research portfolio totaling more than $24 million, and her work has been published in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Bioengineering, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and other leading journals.

Dr. Nguyen is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Controlled Release Society (CRS). Her honors include the 2026 CRS Samyang Award for outstanding innovation and contributions to drug delivery, the NSF CAREER Award, the AAPS Emerging Leader Award, and the BMES-CMBE Young Innovator Award. She was elected by the CRS membership to serve as Director-at-Large from 2026–2029.

Dr. Nguyen is Executive Editor of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, Associate Editor of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Controlled Release. She previously served on the NIH Drug and Biologic Therapeutic Delivery study section. Deeply committed to mentorship, she has advised more than 90 postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and undergraduate researchers and founded the Future Leaders Launchpad to prepare emerging scientists for leadership careers in academia and industry.

Brian Eliceiri, PhD was the co-chair for the Annual WHS meeting held in San Diego 2017, and is currently a Board member for the WHS. He received his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, post-doctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, and is a Professor in the Department of Surgery with a joint appointment in the Department of Dermatology at the University of California San Diego. His research is focused on mechanisms regulating immune homeostasis, with specific interests in the biogenesis of exosomes mediating cell crosstalk in the wound bed. Using advanced approaches for the analysis of single exosomes from wound fluids by flow, genetic strategies to map the source and uptake of exosomes, he has identified biologically important protein and nucleic payloads that promote wound repair in animal models of impaired wound healing.

Dr. Narmoneva received magna cum laude MS degree in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics from Moscow Institute in Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia, in 1993. She completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University in 2000, where she worked in the cartilage mechanics laboratory with Dr. Lori Setton. After graduating from Duke, Dr. Narmoneva went to do postdoctoral training in bioengineering with Dr. Roger Kamm at MIT (2000-2001), and with Dr. Rich Lee at Brigam & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2002-2004), as a postdoctoral fellow of American Heart Association. In 2005, Dr. Narmoneva joined the faculty of Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Cincinnati, where she is currently an Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. Narmoneva’s research is in the area of vascular tissue engineering and regeneration and wound healing. In particular, the team applies bioengineering, biophysical and molecular/cell biology approaches to understand the effects of diabetes on vascular cells, cell-cell interactions and the role of microenvironment in regulating endothelial cell behavior. The goal of the laboratory is development of novel treatment strategies for regenerative healing of diabetic and chronic wounds and diabetic cardiomyopathy. Dr. Narmoneva’s research program has been supported by the NIH, American Heart Association, Proctor & Gamble, Ohio Technology Commercialization Accelerator. She is an author of more than 60 papers & proceedings. Dr. Narmoneva’s research has been featured on the NSF web page, in the local news, and has received multiple recognitions via research awards from the International Wound Healing Society.

Min Zhao graduated from a Medical School in China and obtained his doctorate in Trauma Surgery and Pathology. He was trained under Geoff Burnstock at University College London, before establishing his lab with a Wellcome Trust University Award at University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and worked closely with John Forrester and Colin McCaig. Since then, his research has been focused on endogenous electrical signaling in wound healing, and developing possible therapies based on this mechanism. He was selected to present at the House of Commons as one of the top young Scientists of the UK in 2001. He was promoted to full professor and personal chair in Regenerative Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and honorary Consultant in Department of Ophthalmology at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in 2004. He moved his lab to University of California Davis in 2007 as professor in Dept. of Dermatology and Dept. of Ophthalmology & Vision Science. He serves on grant review panels of NSF, NIH and DoD, and international agencies. His research has been published in Nature, PNAS, Nature Microbiology and other peer reviewed journals. He serves as a reviewer for Science, Cell, Nature and over 100 other academic journals. Research in his lab focuses on 1) understanding how electrical activities help to heal and regenerate; 2) exploiting electrical mechanism to treat injuries and diseases. His lab pioneered experimental discoveries that wound electric fields provide an overriding guidance mechanism for cell migration, and identified the first sets of genes underlying the response.

Professor Hardman is Director of the £48M Wound Innovation Institute at the University of Hull, UK. He brings over 30 years’ experience in skin and wound research (h-index 50) and his work has been supported by funders including Research England, the Medical Research Council, EU, InnovateUK, National Institute for Health Research and industry. His group has contributed significant insight into the mechanisms that underpin wound repair, including discovery of the link between hair cycle and healing, demonstration that wound microbiome profile is linked to diabetic foot ulcer healing outcome and characterizing the role of estrogen signaling in wound repair. Former members of his team now hold Faculty positions across the UK, including at the Universities of Edinburgh, Bradford, Manchester and Hull.

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.

Valerie Horsley began her scientific training as an undergraduate at Furman University and was awarded her Ph.D. from Emory University. After completing a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in Elaine Fuchs’ laboratory at Rockefeller University, Valerie started her independent laboratory at Yale University in the Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology. Horsley’s lab uses the mouse as a genetic model system to study how adult stem cells within epithelial tissues maintain tissue homeostasis, can contribute to wound healing, and can be a factor in cancer formation. She is now the Maxine F. Singer Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale, has received a number of awards including the Pew Scholar Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award.

Dorothy Supp is a Research Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and is on the Scientific Staff of Shriners Children's Ohio. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Cornell University, and her PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include wound healing, scar formation, and skin tissue engineering.

Dr. Beaulieu’s clinical expertise is in complicated musculoskeletal infections, and he teaches fellows on the dedicated MSK ID inpatient service focusing on the management of complex skin and soft tissue, surgical site, and bone/joint infections. He also staffs the General ID consult service for 6 weeks each year. His research focus is on antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention primarily in collaboration with the surgical services at GUH.

Since joining our faculty in 2020, he has taken an active leadership role within the GUH Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee and serves as a member of the MedStar System Antibiotic Subcommittee. He is currently leading a task force charged with reduction of inappropriate utilization of carbapenems as well as a multi-specialty task force seeking to audit, optimize, and standardize ASP practices in the management of musculoskeletal infections. Within infection prevention, he collaborates with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery to reduce prosthetic joint and spinal fusion infections.

His current research seeks to assess and leverage current knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding ASP at GUH to identify opportunities for more successful institution wide collaboration. He is also a co-lead for the GUH site in a multicenter RCT assessing the influence of IP strategies on the transmission of bacterial pathogens between patients and the peri-operative environment.

Dr. John Steinberg is a Professor and full-time faculty member in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington DC. He is Co-Director of the Center for Wound Healing at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital where his practice emphasizes multidisciplinary resident and student teaching. Dr. Steinberg is the Program Director for the MedStar Health Georgetown University Podiatric Surgery Residency Program and is also a faculty member for the Georgetown Diabetic Limb Salvage Research Fellowship. He is a Past President of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Dr. Steinberg is Board Certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery in foot surgery as well as reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery. Dr. Steinberg earned his BS degree in Biology and his DPM degree from Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine in 1995. Upon graduation, Dr. Steinberg entered a three-year surgical residency at the Inova Fairfax Podiatric Residency Program and then completed a one-year Diabetic Foot / Limb Salvage Fellowship with the University of Texas in San Antonio. He was a member of the full-time faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio from 1999 to 2004 before returning to the Washington DC area. He has lectured extensively on diabetic limb salvage nationally and internationally and is actively involved in clinical research and publication.

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

Susan W. Volk, VMD, PhD is the Corinne R and Henry Bower Professor of Small Animal Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. As a clinician-scientist, she has had a long-standing clinical interest in wound healing, with a complimentary basic research program focused on cell-extracellular matrix in modulating progenitor and reparative cell activities during tissue repair. Recent work from her laboratory has defined cell-matrix interactions that regulate the wound healing-fibrosis-cancer triad. This NIH, private foundation, and industry-sponsored research has basic and translational components, including clinical trials in veterinary patients. Dr. Volk serves as President of the Wound Healing Society and as a member of the Board of Directors of the North American Veterinary Regenerative Medical Association.

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.

Terry Swanson completed her undergraduate work in the USA before immigrating to Australia. She was endorsed by NBV in 2003 and the Victorian Government in 2004 as one of the first Nurse Practitioners in her state and specialty of wound management. Terry was admitted as a Fellow of the Australian Wound Management Association in 2010 for her significant contribution to wound management at a state, national, and international level.

Throughout her career, Terry Swanson has held numerous influential positions. She is the current Chair of the International Wound Infection Institute (IWII), where she played a pivotal role in developing and publishing the 2016 IWII Consensus Document Update on Wound Infection, Co-chair of the 2022 publication and Co-Chair of the 2025 publication Therapeutic Wound and Skin Cleansing: Clinical evidence and recommendations. In 2020, Terry's expertise was further recognized when she was invited onto the World Union Wound Healing Societies Board, where she now serves as the Co-chair of the Supporting Societies subcommittee.

Terry has published and presented on chronic wounds and wound infection nationally and internationally. She has also held positions of responsibility on various nursing and wound-related boards locally, nationally, and internationally. Frequently, Terry is an invited speaker as she loves to share her knowledge and passion for helping to heal and providing best practices.

Dr. Chatman is a foot and ankle surgeon, holding a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Doctorate in Podiatric Medicine from Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine. He completed his surgical residency at Georgetown University and MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where he refined his expertise in advanced surgical techniques. Following this, he pursued a fellowship in Lower Extremity Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, further establishing his leadership in limb preservation for high-risk foot types.

Currently, Dr. Chatman serves as an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also acts as the Assistant Fellowship Director and residency liaison. His commitment to education is evident as he shares his extensive knowledge and experience with residents and fellows, shaping the next generation of surgeons. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Dr. Chatman is an integral part of a growing limb preservation center, dedicated to advancing care for patients at risk for limb loss. While he contributes to research efforts in his field, his primary focus remains on providing high-quality surgical care and developing effective patient care protocols.

Residing in Philadelphia, PA, Dr. Chatman is committed to enhancing the quality of care for patients with foot and ankle conditions in the local community, ensuring they receive the highest standard of surgical intervention and rehabilitation. His dedication to excellence and compassion is a hallmark of his practice.

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).

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

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.

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

Dr. Brandt is a professor and Parke-Davis Chair in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research (P-SHOR) and executive director of the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Dr. Brandt has expanded available geriatric training opportunities, including the geriatrics/palliative care pathway, ASHP-accredited geriatrics residency, and two-year post-PharmD fellowship. She was named the 2019 recipient of the American Geriatrics Society’s (AGS) Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award for her leadership in geriatrics education. She has worked on various interdisciplinary teams across numerous practice settings and is currently leading initiatives to integrate sustainable pharmacist-directed services to help older adults with multiple co-morbidities at the MedStar Center for Successful Aging. Dr. Brandt has been active in promoting optimal care for older adults and has affected this through her educational, clinical, as well as healthcare policy work. She co-led an initiative that led to the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, Baltimore County to become the first universities in the state of Maryland to receive Age-Friendly University distinction. She was a Fulbright Program Specialist from 2023 – 2024 with the University of Helsinki to work on Age-Friendly Care initiatives.  

Cathy is an Advanced Practice WOC nurse who delivers care across the continuum, including acute care, long-term care, home health, and outpatient settings. As a clinician with Connecticut Clinical Nursing Associates, she also consults with organizations to improve wound outcomes, conducts clinical research, and lectures both nationally and internationally. She has published numerous articles, authored several book chapters and is the Co-Editor of the texts Wound, Ostomy, Continence Secrets and the Wound Care Certification Study Guide, Third Edition. Cathy is a former Nurse Board Member of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) and currently serves as a Board Member of the Post-Acute Wound and Skin Care Integrity Council (PAWSIC). She is also a member of the AAWC Educational Planning Committee and serves as Chair of the Coalition for At-Risk Skin (CARS). In addition, she holds an appointment as Adjunct Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Nursing. Cathy is the recipient of the John A. Boswick Award.

Ronald Rosen, MD, CMD, CWSP is a geriatrician and hospice physician with Mass General Brigham, specializing in the care of older adults in skilled nursing and post-acute care settings. He has extensive clinical experience in wound management, skin integrity, palliative care, and the complex medical and psychosocial issues affecting medically frail older adults.

Dr. Rosen is actively involved in professional education and serves on the board of the Post Acute Wound and Skin Integrity Council (PAWSIC). He is also a member of the Post-Acute and Long-Term Medicine (PALTMed) community, a faculty member of their Core Curriculum and contributes to Caring for the Ages, writing on clinical topics relevant to post-acute and long-term care.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Rosen is a medical-legal consultant and educator, bringing a practical perspective to the intersection of clinical care, documentation, communication, and patient safety. His presentations emphasize evidence-based practice while incorporating real-world clinical examples, audience interaction, and strategies that clinicians can immediately apply to patient care.

Dr. Rosen is particularly interested in wound care as a multidisciplinary endeavor and in improving outcomes through better clinical reasoning, communication, and collaboration among physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, therapists, patients, and families.

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.

Dr. Kara Spiller is a Professor in Drexel University's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems. Her research interests include the role of immune cells in tissue regeneration, the design of immunomodulatory biomaterials, and international engineering education. Her research is funded by the NIH, the NSF, and private foundations. Her awards include a Fulbright fellowship, the NSF CAREER award, and the United States nomination for the ASPIRE prize.

David Margolis is the Gerald S. Lazarus Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is the Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs for the Department of Dermatology. He also is a Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics and an Assistant Dean of Faculty Affairs in the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Margolis's research work has focused on using pharmacoepidemiologic tools to study the epidemiology and treatment of chronic wounds, atopic dermatitis, acne, and other dermatological illnesses. He has been the Principal Investigator of several government, industry, and foundation grants. Many of these studies have focused on developing prediction models for treating venous leg and diabetic foot ulcers, on evaluating the association of genetic and immunogenetic variation on the persistence of and risk for atopic dermatitis, as well as investigator-initiated trials using gene therapy in phase I studies to treat venous leg ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers, and recently a randomized non inferiority trial on oral therapy for acne. Finally, he has a long history of using administrative and medical record databases to improve our knowledge of dermatologic illnesses. His research has resulted in more than 300 peer reviewed research publications. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians. He has mentored dozens of dermatologists who have become excellent dermatoepidemiologists. Many of his mentees currently hold faculty positions in dermatology departments and have made impactful discovers that have advanced our knowledge of skin disease.

Adrian Barbul, MD is a General Surgeon with over 35+ years dedication to research and clinical activity to understanding wound healing, both at a basic science level and at the bedside. His basic laboratory research focused on studying the nutritional and immune regulation of wound healing. The laboratory was federally funded for over 15 years and trained numerous surgical resident and doctoral and post-doctoral fellows. As a practicing surgeon, he translated scientific advances to the bedside, such as being the first to study the effect of growth factors (EGF) on pressure ulcers and numerous other, often investigator initiated, clinical translational research. As founding member and then as President of the Wound Healing Society he has lead a team charged with the promulgation of clinical care guidelines for arterial, diabetic, venous and pressure ulcers which have been widely disseminated, accepted and adopted.

Sarah Rosenberger is an acute care nurse practitioner with over 10 years’ experience in the care of patients with vascular disease. She has particular clinical and research interest in management of aortic disease, vascular emergencies, and enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS). She is the Clinical Program Manager for the Center for Aortic Disease at University of Maryland Medical Center. She completed her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and her Master’s of Science in Advanced Practice Nursing at The University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland. She is nationally credentialed an licensed in the state of Maryland as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist

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.

Elizabeth A. Grice, Ph.D. is Professor and Vice Chair of Basic Science Research in the Department of Dermatology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Microbiology, at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Dr. Grice’s scientific training began as an undergraduate at Luther College in Iowa, followed by a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from Johns Hopkins University in 2006. Her post-doctoral work at NIH/NHGRI pioneered sequencing-based approaches to profile the topographic and temporal diversity of the healthy human skin microbiome. Since 2012, Dr. Grice has led a research group of multi-disciplinary scientists and trainees at Penn to investigate roles of the skin microbiota in health and disease. Dr. Grice is Director and PI of the Penn Skin Biology and Disease Resource Center (SBDRC) and Co-Director of the Penn Dermatology Research Training Program. At the graduate education level, she serves as Vice Chair of the Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology Ph.D. Program. Dr. Grice is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Society of Investigative Dermatology. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Sandra J. Lazarus endowed Associate Professorship, Penn Medicine Michael S. Brown New Investigator Award, the Penn One Health Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund PaTH Award, and the Sun Pharma Research Award from the Dermatology Foundation.

Dr. Sasha Shafikhani completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He is currently a Professor and the Director of Microbiome Research in the Department of Dermatology at UC Davis School of Medicine. Dr. Shafikhani has served on the editorial boards of 13 scientific journals and is currently an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and Scientific Reports. Additionally, he has contributed to the grants evaluation panels for prominent organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA, and various national and international research funding agencies. As a cellular microbiologist, Dr. Shafikhani leads research projects focusing on host/pathogen interaction, normal and chronic wound healing, and cancer biology. His research has been supported by grants from NIH, philanthropic funds, and institutional grants.

Paul Bollyky received his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, his D.Phil at the University of Oxford, and his M.D. at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA and then his Fellowship Training in infectious Diseases and Immunology at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Paul was appointed to the Stanford University Medical School faculty in 2013. He currently serves as a professor and division chief of infectious diseases at Stanford. He has a longstanding interest in preventing autoimmune diseases. His research has focused on how immune responses are regulated in infected wounds.

M. Martins-Green is a Professor of Cell Biology in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology at the University of California, Riverside. She came to the US from Portugal on a Fulbright Fellowship and received a PhD in 1987 at UC Davis, followed by a National Research Service Award at Berkeley and then as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University before joining the UC Riverside faculty in 1993. She is currently at the highest level (IX) in the professorial scale at the University of California. She has received numerous awards throughout the years in research and teaching including being a fellow of AAAS and the WHS and having received the Oliver Johnson award, the highest award the UC gives to one of its faculty for leadership skills. She has also received the innovation teaching award and the Chancellor award for excellence in mentoring undergraduates in research. She is an internationally recognized researcher in wound healing and pioneered the role of chemokines in wound healing and angiogenesis. In the last 10 years, her research program has focused on understanding how wound chronicity is initiated. She developed a murine model of chronic wounds that mimics closely cell and molecular mechanisms of chronic wound initiation and development in humans. From her numerous studies she has proposed a three-stage treatment for chronic wounds in diabetic patients; a preparatory, an earlier and a later stage treatment. Her findings have lead to initiation of a clinical trial on using this approach to treat DFU

Anie Philip, PhD is a tenured Full Professor in the Department of Surgery at McGill University, Canada. She is also the Director of Plastic Surgery Research and Director of Plastic Suregry REsearch at McGill University, and President of the Skin Research Group of Canada. Dr Philip received her PhD from McGill and completed her post-doctoral training at the National Research Council Canada. Over the past 2 decades, her research program has focused on the molecular mechanisms of skin and cartilage repair and regeneration, and squamous cell carcinoma. Her research has been continuously funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and in addition, she recives funding from NSERC Canada and the Department of Defense USA. Her team’s recent contributions include the discovery and functional characterization of a novel TGF-beta co-receptor, identification of unique regulatory mechanisms by TGF-beta co-receptors in skin cells, chondrocytes and in squamous cell carcinoma. The tranlsational focus of her research is on the development of novel anti-fibrotic and anti-cancer peptides for which her team holds several patents.

Kyle P. Quinn, PhD, is a tenured professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University and director of the Tufts Advanced Microscopic Imaging Center. His overall research interests are in developing and utilizing non-invasive quantitative optical methods to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of disease progression and tissue repair processes. Dr. Quinn received his B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. His lab uses label-free multiphoton microscopy and AI-powered image analysis to study wound healing and aging, which has been funded through NIH R00, R21, R01, and P20 mechanisms, DoD STTR and CDMRP projects, and the NSF CAREER award. While at the University of Arkansas, he was the founding director of the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center, which integrates optical imaging, bioenergetics, and data science approaches to solve biomedical research problems involving cell and tissue metabolism. He currently serves as the Wound Healing Society treasurer and has previously chaired the WHS Communications, Membership, and Program Committees.

Dr. Song Hu received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronic Engineering from Tsinghua University and Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. His current research focuses on the development of photoacoustic and optical technologies for high-resolution structural, functional, metabolic, and molecular imaging in vivo. Dr. Hu has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles. His publications, including the 4th and 6th most cited articles in the Journal of Biomedical Optics since 2009 and the 5th most cited article in Optics Letters since 2007, have accumulated over 16,000 citations. Dr. Hu is a recipient of the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2014), the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (NSF CAREER) Award (2018), and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Frontiers of Imaging Award (2020).

Thea Price, MD, FACS is an Acute Care Surgeon and Medical Director of Complex Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine in the Department of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. She serves as the Medical Director of all inpatient and outpatient wound care.
Dr. Price is a(n) Senior Associate Consultant of Surgery in the College of Medicine.
She trained at UAMS, Thomas Jefferson University, University of Colorado and University of Chapel Hill. Clinical interests include calcification disorders, radiation injuries, hidradenitis suppurativa, and other complex acute and chronic wounds. She has a basic science lab that studies ectopic mineralization and heterotopic ossification and runs multiple wound care trials for new technologies. She is passionate about ground-breaking wound care innovation.

Dr. Abigail Chaffin is a Professor and the Division Chief of Plastic Surgery at Tulane University. She is also the Medical Director of the MedCentris Wound Healing Institute at Metairie. She is a Certified Wound Specialist Physician and a Master of the American Professional Wound Care Association. She is the Program Director of the Tulane/Ochsner Plastic Surgery Residency Program. She has been awarded the honor of designation as a Master of the American Professional Wound Care Association. She focuses her practice on wound medicine, complex surgical wound reconstructive surgery, and general plastic reconstructive surgery.

She has authored over 65 publications in wound medicine and surgery. She lectures nationally and internationally on plastic surgery, wound management and wound reconstructive surgery topics. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Society of Plastic Surgery and the current Chair of the ASPS Assembly of State and Regional Societies. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. In addition, she serves as an examiner for the Oral Board Exams for the American Board of Plastic Surgery.

Jenna Klimovich, MD, is an assistant professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, where she focuses on primary care and specializes in obesity medicine. In her role as a primary care physician at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, she provides clinical care while also consulting on obesity management for patients. She completed her undergraduate education along with medical schoo lat the University of Miami, and her internal medicine residency at UM/Jackson Health System in Miami, FL. In October 2023, she co-presented a talk titled “The Changing Landscape of Obesity Treatment” to the Connecticut chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP), highlighting the evolving approaches to obesity treatment. Additionally, Dr. Klimovich serves as a workgroup member for the VA/DoD Obesity/Overweight Clinical Practice Guidelines, a comprehensive guideline for obesity management, which is expected to be completed by 2025.

Renee Cordrey PT, PhD(c), MSPT, MPH, CWS is a physical therapist practicing in home health with Encompass Health. She found her wound care passion while a physical therapy student. Since then she has become board certified in wound care and focused her career in that specialty. She has worked in most care settings and in academia, currently on the faculty of The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

She has been very active within the wound care community throughout her career, having served four terms on the Board of Directors of the AAWC and in various roles with the American Physical Therapy Association, the Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society, the American Academy of Wound Management, the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders, and Health Volunteers Overseas. She was honored with the Distinguished Member award from the AAWC, and is a Fellow of the AAWC. She also earned a Masters in Public Health, concentrating in health promotion and health education and is completing her dissertation for her PhD. She has over 115 presentations and publications on wound-related topics.

Amiee Coriano is a healthcare consultant, entrepreneur, and revenue cycle management specialist based in Georgia. She is the founder and president of AMC Medical Consulting LLC, a firm she established in 2017 to help healthcare organizations improve financial performance and operational efficiency.

Mrs. Coriano brings a strong background in health information management and medical billing, supported by an extensive portfolio of professional credentials. Her certifications include CSPO, CBCS, CMAA, CPPM, CMDP, and CHA, in addition to serving as an AHIMA Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Trainer and AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer. She also holds the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) designation, underscoring her expertise in healthcare documentation, compliance, and regulatory standards.

With deep expertise in coding, compliance, credentialing, and end-to-end revenue cycle management, Mrs. Coriano partners with hospitals, physician practices, and specialty providers to streamline administrative workflows, reduce claim denials, and optimize reimbursement accuracy. She is particularly experienced in complex specialties such as wound care, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and multidisciplinary therapy services, where billing and regulatory requirements demand advanced knowledge and precision.

Under her leadership, AMC Medical Consulting has grown into a nationally recognized, women-owned firm serving clients across the United States. Through her work, Mrs. Coriano continues to play a pivotal role in helping healthcare organizations navigate the evolving complexities of medical billing and reimbursement while improving both financial outcomes and operational performance.

Kathleen D. Schaum is the President and founder of Kathleen D. Schaum & Associates, Inc. where she has served as a wound/ulcer management reimbursement strategy consultant and educator for more than 25 years. She has more than 50 years of reimbursement experience and success across the health care, biotech, and medical industries, where she held leadership positions at health care companies e.g., Smith & Nephew, Inc. (Director of Medical Products Reimbursement), Healthpoint, Ltd. (Director of Reimbursement), Johnson & Johnson Medical (Director of Reimbursement), and Bimeco (Manager of Alternate Care Sales Division).

Kathleen has consulted with hundreds of hospital owned outpatient provider-based departments, physicians, and other qualified healthcare professionals to start new wound/ulcer management programs or to transform existing programs that were in disarray. She has also been an asset for wound/ulcer management manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers - especially those seeking assistance with executive and sales force reimbursement education, with reimbursement strategy development for new products, and with the reimbursement component of the merger and acquisition due diligence process.

Kathleen also provides reimbursement education at many regional/national wound/ulcer management symposiums. As a writer and authority in her field, Kathleen has shared her knowledge in medical journals: Payment Strategies in Advances in Skin & Wound Care and Business Briefs and Consultation Corner in Today’s Wound Clinic. Based on her published articles, EXPERTSCAPE recognized Kathleen as a world expert for reimbursement: health insurance– she is in the top 0.08% of more than 30,000 worldwide authors – she ranks number 25 in the world.

Julie Rhodovi is an accomplished, senior executive level professional, with health care strategy development, revenue cycle, payor and government relations, and contract relations experience. Her experience includes managing contract negotiations, field-based services, oversight of the cross-functional network service experience, and working with interdisciplinary management teams across the country to determine needed relations with payor organizations. She has worked in the post-acute care setting and the payor field for over 30 years, with direct experience in the building and launching of a Medicare Advantage plan. Throughout the past 20 years, Julie's direct focus has been in the wound care space of post-acute care, with specific concentration on the regulations and coverage.
Ms. Rhodovi is a Certified Wound Care Associate (CWCA) with the American Board of Wound Management (ABWM) and the current treasurer with the ABWM Foundation, as a Board of Trustee. She is a founding executive member and treasurer of the Post-Acute Wound and Skin Integrity Council (PAWSIC) and a Board Member on the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders. Ms. Rhodovi holds a master’s in business administration with a concentration in health management and is a certified six sigma lean black belt in healthcare (LBBH).

Since 2008, Amanda Murray, NP-C, WCC, has specialized in wound care across a wide spectrum of clinical settings—including Hospital Outpatient Departments (HOPDs), inpatient units, outpatient clinics, podiatry practices, and mobile wound care services. With nearly two decades of experience, she brings a deep understanding of the complexities of chronic and acute wounds, blending clinical expertise with a relentless curiosity.
She says that wound care is more than treatment—it’s detective work. Finding the missing link that prevents healing is her life's work. Whether it’s identifying an overlooked comorbidity, asking the patient more questions about their history, or navigating the nuances of vascular compromise, she approaches each case with precision and compassion.
Her practice is rooted in patient-centered care and evidence-based practice. She’s known for her ability to connect with patients, educate families, and streamline care plans to make them simple and obtainable the goal the patient has set for themself, which interestingly is not always wound healing. From bedside to remote visits, she adapts seamlessly to each environment, always advocating for the best outcomes.
With a career built on clinical excellence and a passion for solving the puzzle of wound healing, she continues to elevate the standard of care—one wound, one patient, and one breakthrough at a time.

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.

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.

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.

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

Dr. Piul Rabbani is an Assistant Professor in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery as well as Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at New York University School of Medicine. Her lab’s research program is focused on the identification of intercellular communication mechanisms that are deficient in chronic non-healing diabetic cutaneous wounds, with particular interest in compensating with mesenchymal progenitor cell populations. Dr. Rabbani’s lab is investigating extracellular vesicles as mediators of cellular conversation and exploring means of maximizing therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles harvested from adult multipotent stromal cells. She is also involved in incorporating exosome-based approaches with biomaterials to develop translatable delivery vehicles. Dr. Rabbani did her post-doctoral work with Dr. Daniel Ceradini on multipotent stromal cells, their metabolic regulation, and application within diabetic wound healing. She did her graduate work with Dr. Mayumi Ito, investigating the co-regulation of melanocyte and hair follicle epithelial stem cells.

Dr. Jayesh B. Shah is the President of TIMEO2 Healing Concepts, LLC, which provides consulting and education services in wound care and hyperbaric medicine;Past Medical Director of NE & Mission Trail Baptist, Soutwest General Hospital and UMH wound clinics. Past President of South Texas Wound Associates, where he provided clinical wound care services in San Antonio for the past 28 years; Past President of American College of Hyperbaric Medicine; Immediate Past President of Texas Medical Association. He is current Co- Chair of WoundCON. He is also CMO of PACT 2,Northwest Health Center, Audie Murphy Veteran Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. He is also CMO of MR3 Health, San Antonio, Texas

He has published “Wound Care Certification Study Guide” in 2011,2016,2021; Textbook of Chronic Wound Care: An Evidence-Based Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment in 2018, and created “WoundDoctor” Free App.He has authored over 40 chapters on wound topics in 4 books and 30+ scientific articles in wound care and hyperbaric medicine. He is past Assistant Editor of Journal of ACCWS and present editorial board member of Today's Wound Clinic.

To his credit, Dr. Shah is the recipient of the Gold Award for Wound Hygiene Implementation issued by JWC WUWHS Awards (2022), Lifetime Achievement Award (2020) Diabetes Research Award (2019) Paul James Sheffield Education Award for Lifetime Dedication to Education in the field of Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine (2014); Jefferson C. Davis Memorial Award for Excellence in Clinical Hyperbaric Medicine (2007 and 2011); Carolyn Sue Award (2009); Young Scientist/Medical Doctor Award (2008).

Audrey is a career oncology nurse currently working as a nurse manager at Riverview Medical Center (RMC) in Red Bank, New Jersey. RMC is a member of the Hackensack Meridian Health Network. Previously to her role at RMC she was a clinical nurse supervisor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and brings over 15 years of oncology nursing experience across emergency, inpatient, outpatient, and procedural settings within the Memorial Sloan Kettering Network. She has cultivated expertise in symptom management, emergency response, and interdisciplinary leadership, consistently advancing patient care and nursing practice.
Audrey has spearheaded multiple quality improvement initiatives, including projects to enhance emergency response coordination at the Monmouth regional site, streamline COVID-19 testing workflows, and reduce hospital readmission rates. Her leadership extends beyond clinical practice; she previously served as Chair of the Emergency Oncology Nursing Council of Informatics and presented on malignant fungating wounds and palliative interventions at the 2022 SAWC Spring Conference.
A dedicated mentor, leader, clinician, and educator, Audrey is passionate about professional growth within the nursing community. She has led initiatives to increase oncology nursing certification rates and to strengthen resilience in practice, supporting both individual development and team excellence.
Audrey earned her Master of Science in Nursing with a focus in Clinical Leadership from Rutgers University and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from The Catholic University of America. Outside of her nursing career she is a mother and her interests include travel, running, skiing, pickleball, hiking and enjoying the beach with her family and dogs.

Dr. Lehrman is a podiatrist practicing in Fort Collins, CO and operates Lehrman Consulting, LLC which provides guidance regarding coding, compliance and documentation. Dr. Lehrman is a Certified Professional Coder, Certified Professional Medical Auditor, and Certified Evaluation and Management Coder. He serves as a staff liaison at the AMA CPT® Editorial Panel meetings where CPT codes are created, edited, and deleted. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery, Fellow of the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons, and is recognized as a “Master” by the American Professional Wound Care Association. Dr Lehrman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Podiatric Practice Management, a past Director of the American Professional Wound Care Association, and is a Past Chairman of the Board of the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons. Dr. Lehrman is also on the editorial advisory board of the journal WOUNDS.

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

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

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

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