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Pitt Hosts Representatives of the DoD Regenerative Medicine Traveling Exchange Program

The TEP aims to enhance the interaction between research-minded military physicians and researchers of leading academic health centers of the nation involved in AFIRM in areas that are of relevance to military medicine.

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Associate Director Rocky Tuan, PhD, Director, Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, the Arthur J. Rooney, Sr. Professor and Executive Vice Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Co-Director of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), the Department of Defense (DoD)-funded national, multi-institutional consortium, recently hosted a visit of the DoD Regenerative Medicine Traveling Exchange Program (TEP) to the University of Pittsburgh. This 1-day visit consisted of an overview of active AFIRM research projects being conducted at Pitt as well as presentations by Drs. Arthur Levine and Steven Shapiro representing Pitt’s School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), respectively.

The TEP aims to enhance the interaction between research-minded military physicians and researchers of leading academic health centers of the nation involved in AFIRM in areas that are of relevance to military medicine. In addition to Dr. Tuan, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine AFIRM presenters included:

  • William Wagner, PhD, Director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Professor of Surgery, Bioengineering, and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and the Deputy Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center on “Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials”
  • Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, Deputy Director, McGowan Institue for Regenerative Medicine, Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Director of the Center for Pre-Clinical Tissue Engineering within the McGowan Institute
  • Peter Rubin, MD, Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery, UPMC Endowed Professor of Plastic Surgery, and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Co-Director of the Adipose Stem Cell Center of the McGowan Institute, and Founder and Director of the Center for Innovation in Restorative Medicine in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh
  • Kacey Marra, PhD, Associate Professor in the Departments of Plastic Surgery in the School of Medicine and Bioengineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Director of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory in the Department of Plastic Surgery in Pitt’s School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Adipose Stem Cell Center of the McGowan Institute

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty members Yoram Vodovotz, PhD, Professor in the Department of Surgery, Computational & Systems Biology, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Immunology, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the Director of the Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling at the McGowan Institute, and Vijay Gorantla, MD, PhD, Deputy Director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Plastic Surgery, and the Administrative Medical Director of the Pittsburgh Reconstructive Transplant Program at UPMC, presented on trauma-related research, including collaborative projects with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Army Institute for Surgical Research. Drs. Tuan and Wagner also introduced the TEP visitors to the activities of Pitt’s Center for Military Medicine Research and the McGowan Institute.

TEP Fellows attending included:

  • LCDR Matthew Bradley, Assistant Professor, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
  • Lt Col Megan Burgess, San Antonio Military Medical Center Center
  • LCDR Daniel Grabo, Navy Trauma Training Center, LAC+USC Medical Center
  • COL Booker King, Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas
  • LTC John Oh, Chief, General Surgery Services, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Representing the DoD were: Dr. Wendy Dean, John Getz, and Lt Col Melinda Eaton.

Illustration: McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty members Drs. Rocky Tuan (far left) and William Wagner (far right) and members of the DoD Regenerative Medicine Traveling Exchange Program.

Read more…

Bio: Dr. Rocky Tuan

Bio: Dr. William Wagner

Bio: Dr. Stephen Badylak

Bio: Dr. Peter Rubin

Bio: Dr. Kacey Marra

Bio: Dr. Yoram Vodovotz

Bio: Dr Vijay Gorantla