Beyond Closure: The Next Era of Wound Care (In Collaboration with WCCC)

 What if wound closure is no longer the only outcome that matters? Emerging evidence and patients’ voices are challenging long-held assumptions about how chronic wounds are evaluated, treated, and regulated. This session brings forward late-breaking Wound Care Collaborative Community (WCCC) research and publications—including recommendations relevant to evolving FDA guidance and real-world evidence poised to influence clinical wound care. • Challenge the endpoint: Do traditional measures of healing capture the outcomes that matter most to patients? • Confront the evidence gap: Where do scientific rigor, regulatory priorities, and real-world clinical practice align—and where do they collide? • Reframe progress: How should the lived experience of people with chronic wounds shape definitions of meaningful improvement? • Look beyond closure: What would a more patient-centered approach mean for research, regulation, care decisions, and outcomes?