Anthony Atala, M.D., Professor and Director
Anthony Atala, M.D., is the W.H. Boyce Professor and Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Urology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Atala is a surgeon in the area of pediatric urology and a researcher in the area of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

His current work focuses on growing new human cells, tissues and organs (including kidney, blood vessels, cartilage, muscle, bladder, pancreas, and others) to repair or replace tissues or organs damaged by age, cancer, trauma, or abnormal development.

Dr. Atala is a founding member, Governor, and Continental Chair of the North America Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Regenerate International Conference. Dr. Atala is an Editor for several journals, including Stem Cells and Development, Current Stem Cell Research and Therapy, Regenerative Medicine, Tissue Engineering, Stem Cell Therapy, The Journal of Rejuvenation Research, Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy , Biomedical Materials, and The Scientific World: Tissue Engineering, and Cell Biology. He also serves as editor of Investigative Urology (Journal of Urology), Urology, Current Reviews in Urology, Current Opinion in Urology, BioMed Central-Urology and the Journal of Laparoendoscopic and Advanced Surgical Techniques: Endosurgery and Innovative Techniques.

In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Atala has held numerous visiting appointments worldwide and has received numerous awards and honors, including the US Congress funded Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, bestowed on a living American who is currently working on a discovery that will significantly affect society, and the Gold Cystoscope Award for contributions to his field. Dr. Atala was named by Scientific American as a Medical Treatments Leader of the Year for his contributions to the fields of cell, tissue and organ regeneration, and by Esquire Magazine as one of the "Best and Brightest," a celebration of Americans committed to positive change. In 2006, he was named by Fast Company magazine as one of 50 people who "will change how we work and live over the next 10 years,"

Dr. Atala has led or served several national professional and government committees, including the National Institutes of Health working group on Cells and Developmental Biology, and the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Consortium. Dr. Atala heads a team of 80 physicians and researchers. Ten applications of technologies developed in Dr. Atala's laboratory have been used clinically. He is the editor of 6 books, including Tissue Engineering and Methods of Tissue Engineering (Academic Press), and has published more than 200 journal articles or book chapters, more than 250 abstracts, and has applied for or received over 150 national and international patents.

« Back