Scientific Advisory Board
Our Scientific Advisory Board will provide insight on the most promising advances in the areas of regenerative and adult stem cell treatments. The SAB members all hold faculty appointments at leading American and European academic institutions that are involved in the field of regenerative medicine, translational cellular therapies, and related fields. These recognized leaders have generously committed their experience, expertise, and knowledge to advancing SFLF’s mission of supporting adult stem cell research, therapy development and global education.
Anthony Atala, M.D.
Dr. Atala is the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the W.H. Boyce Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology at Wake Forest University. His current work focuses on growing new human cells, tissues, and organs.
Martin Bednar, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Bednar is an executive director and research project lead within the Neuroscience Research Unit of Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development. Dr. Bednar is currently involved in the clinical assessment of both small molecules and biologics for the symptomatic, disease modifying and neurorestorative treatment of various neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. He has published over 75 articles and book chapters on the pharmacology, pathophysiology and treatment of central nervous system disorders.
Roberto Bolli, M.D.
Dr. Bolli currently serves as Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Louisville and is Director at the school’s Institute of Molecular Cardiology. For the past three decades, Dr. Bolli’s research has focused on the mechanisms responsible for myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and on the development of cardioprotective strategies.
Claudio Bordignon, M.D.
Dr. Bordignon, MolMed’s Founder, is widely known for the clinical validation of several successful gene therapy protocols for both genetic and acquired disorders, including leukemias and other malignancies. He is a professor of hematology at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele Medical School and has held positions as director of Hematology, head of the Gene Therapy and Bone Marrow Transplantation Program.
Fr. Kevin FitzGerald, S.J., Ph.D
Fr. FitzGerald is the Dr. David Lauler Chair of Catholic Health Care Ethics in the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University. His research efforts focus on the investigation of abnormal gene expression in cancer and on ethical issues in biomedical research.
Doug Losordo, M.D.
Dr. Losordo, the previous vice president for New Therapies at Baxter Healtcare in Chicago, USA. and previously the director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research at Northwestern University’s School of Medicine is a thought leader in regenerative medicine for cardiovascular disisease. He worked in collaboration with the late Jeff Isner to develop a program in therapeutic angiogenesis and cell-based tissue repair.
Wayne A. Marasco, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Marasco is an associate professor in the Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In the area of adult stem cells, Dr. Marasco heads an HMS team that is investigating the pluripotent potential of ASCs using “humanized mice” as models for host immunity, vaccine development, and regenerative medicine.
Stephen D. Nimer, M.D.
Dr. Nimer is currently director of the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Nimer was previously vice chairman for Faculty Development within the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His research is currently focused on defining the molecular mechanisms that control the growth of normal and malignant hematopoietic stem cells.
Mariusz Z. Ratajczak, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sci.
Dr. Ratajczak is the Henry and Stella Hoenig Endowed Chair in Cancer Biology and the director of the Developmental Biology Research Program at the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center. His 2005 discovery of embryonic-like stem cells in adult tissues has the potential to treat cancer, heart disease, eye disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders.
John Wagner, M.D.
Dr. Wagner is professor of Pediatrics, director of the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and co-director of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Wagner’s research has focused on the development of new molecular and cellular therapies for the treatment of life-threatening diseases for which conventional treatments are unsatisfactory.