Leading-Edge Experts Convene in Winston-Salem for Interdisciplinary Event to Advance Regenerative Medicine from the Lab to the Patient
WINSTON-SALEM, NC, May 6, 2023 — A lineup of prominent experts representing all aspects of research, translational medicine, biotechnology, patient advocacy, policy and the commercialization of regenerative medicine treatments will convene at the 20th annual World Stem Cell Summit in Winston-Salem June 5 – 9, 2023. This year’s meeting, a combined event of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) the Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF), and the Healthspan Action Coalition (HSAC), will be a comprehensive education and dynamic networking event promoting the development of cutting-edge cures based on regenerative medicine.
Included on the agenda is a recognition of Winston-Salem as the national epicenter of regenerative medicine and the state of North Carolina as a major scientific hub.
With the overarching purpose of fostering translation in biomedical research, funding, and investments targeting cures, the Summit serves a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders and influencers. Through presentations of cutting-edge science and the many facets of pioneering new cures, it helps journalists access up-to-the-minute developments in the fast-moving field of regenerative medicine. Produced by the nonprofit RMF, the World Stem Cell Summit is also the legacy interdisciplinary networking event in the stem cell science and regenerative medicine field.
Included in the event is the Regenerative Medicine Essentials Course, sponsored by the WFIRM and featuring talks from leading-edge innovators in everything from basic stem cell research to the engineering of artificial tissues and 3-D-printed organs. This course, founded by regenerative medicine pioneer and WFIRM Director Anthony Atala, M.D. and directed with WFIRM’s Chief Education Program Officer Joan Schanck, M.P.A. and RMF Executive Director Bernard Siegel, J.D., is a comprehensive primer and update for journalists as well as students and other stakeholders.
Other sessions will be sponsored by the Healthspan Action Coalition, co-founded by Bernard Siegel and Melissa King, two longtime veterans of the stem cell research advocacy movement. HSAC is a nonprofit organization working on multiple levels to extend the global human healthspan through the advancement of regenerative medicine and the latest developments in longevity science. It connects scientists, patient advocacy groups, policymakers, and the public and private sector in the overriding goal of curing diseases that cause rapid premature aging (which includes almost all noncommunicable diseases) and shorten the healthspan.
Topics to be covered at the Summit include:
- The latest treatments aimed at curing diabetes and other life-limiting diseases
- Stories of real-life patients seeking stem-cell-based treatments
- The hope for cures for professional athletes suffering from TBI and other cumulative sport-related injuries
- Stem cells in space and what it means for the growing of new organs
- The hidden universe of cells revealed through Extreme Microscopy
- The federal landscape for advancing regenerative cures, including an introduction to the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
- Saving “Rudy,” the great northern rhino, and other endangered species through stem cells
- Personal stories of advocates, including the story of Bernard Siegel’s 20 years riding the wave of regenerative medicine since its inception all the way to groundbreaking treatments for patients
- The economics of bringing scientific research from the bench to the bedside
Special sessions include a free Public Day — “How Winston-Salem is Emerging as the Next Hub for Regenerative Medicine”, which is open to the public on June 5. Other sessions include “Intersection of Regenerative Medicine and Healthspan. Not Where We Are—But Where We’re Going,” “Effective Patient Advocacy—Call to Action Impact Sessions and Workshops,” and “Stem Cell Regenerative Medicine and the Commercial Space Economy.” All special sessions are included with registration.
The World Stem Cell Summit and the Wake Forest Regenerative Medicine Essentials Course are endorsed by Oxford University Press and Stem Cells Translational Medicine, the official journal partner of RMF.
Registration is now open at https://worldstemcellsummit.com/, where you view the full agenda. To submit press credentials/requests for press passes, email Joseph Dawson at joseph@regmedfoundation.org or Eve Herold at eve@healthspanaction.org. This is the place to learn the latest in cutting-edge research, find real-life stories and get a bird’s-eye view of the vibrant, groundbreaking field of regenerative medicine.
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Media Contacts:
Joseph Dawson
Director of Communications,
joseph@regmedfoundation.org
Joan Schanck, MPA,
Chief Education Program Officer, RME Course Co-Director
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
jschanck@wakehealth.edu.
About the World Stem Cell Summit: The World Stem Cell Summit is a project of the nonprofit Regenerative Medicine Foundation. Since 2003, Regenerative Medicine Foundation has built the strongest, most comprehensive and trusted global network for Regenerative Medicine, uniting the world’s leading researchers, medical centers, universities, labs, businesses, funders, policymakers, experts in law, regulation and ethics, medical philanthropies and patient organizations. Our mission is to accelerate regenerative medicine to improve health and deliver cures. We are committed to the ethical advancement of an innovative medicine powered by regenerative, restorative, and curative technologies. All we do is in service of health, life, and the alleviation of human suffering.
About the Regenerative Medicine Foundation: The nonprofit Regenerative Medicine Foundation fosters strategic collaborations to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine to improve health and deliver cures. RMF unites the world’s leading researchers, medical centers, universities, labs, businesses, funders, policymakers, experts in law, regulation and ethics, medical philanthropies, and patient organizations. We maintain a trusted network of leaders and pursue our mission by producing our flagship World Stem Cell Summit series of conferences and public days, honoring leaders through the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Action Awards, supporting our official journal partner STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM), promoting solution-focused policy initiatives both nationally and internationally and creating STEM/STEAM educational projects. For more information about RMF, please visit: www.regmedfoundation.org.
About Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine: WFIRM is recognized as an international leader in translating scientific discovery into clinical therapies, with many world firsts, including the development and implantation of the first engineered organ in a patient. Over 400 people at the institute, the largest in the world, work on more than 40 different tissues and organs. A number of the basic principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were first developed at the institute. WFIRM researchers have successfully engineered replacement tissues and organs in all four categories – flat structures, tubular tissues, hollow organs and solid organs – and 16 different applications of cell/tissue therapy technologies, such as skin, urethras, cartilage, bladders, muscle, kidney, and vaginal organs, have been successfully used in human patients. The institute, which is part of Wake Forest School of Medicine, is located in the Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, and is driven by the urgent needs of patients. The institute is making a global difference in regenerative medicine through collaborations with over 400 entities and institutions worldwide, through its government, academic and industry partnerships, its start-up entities, and through major initiatives in breakthrough technologies, such as tissue engineering, cell therapies, diagnostics, drug discovery, biomanufacturing, nanotechnology, gene editing and 3D printing.