The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is led by Director Anthony Atala, MD, who oversees an executive cabinet whose members represent the major work areas of effort -- research, lab operations, finances and grants, philanthropy, education, communications, intellectual property management and patents, and manufacturing and development.
Executive Committee
Chair and Institute Director
Dr. Atala is a practicing surgeon and a researcher in the area of regenerative medicine. Fifteen applications of technologies developed in his laboratory have been used clinically. He is editor of 25 books and three journals. Dr. Atala has published over 600 journal articles, and has received over 250 national and international patents. Dr. Atala was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, to the National Academy of Inventors as a Charter Fellow, and to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Dr. Atala is a recipient of 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; the World Technology Award in Health and Medicine, for achieving significant and lasting progress; the Edison Science/Medical Award for innovation, the R&D Innovator of the Year Award, and the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for Bioprinting Tissue and Organs. Dr. Atala’s work was listed twice as Time Magazine’s Top 10 medical breakthroughs of the year, and once as one of 5 discoveries that will change the future of organ transplants. He was named by Scientific American as one of the world’s most influential people in biotechnology, by U.S. News & World Report as one of 14 Pioneers of Medical Progress in the 21st Century, by Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review as one of the top key influencers in the life sciences intellectual property arena, and by Nature Biotechnology as one of the top 10 translational researchers in the world.
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, the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Consortium, and the National Cancer Institute’s Advisory Board. He is a founding member of the Tissue Engineering Society, Regenerative Medicine Foundation, Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing Innovation Consortium, Regenerative Medicine Development Organization, and Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing Society.
Julie Watson, JD
Chief Intellectual Property Officer and Legal Counsel
Julie concentrates on counseling related to intellectual property transactions with a particular emphasis in technology startups and university technology transfer. A licensing professional with more than 25 years of experience structuring complex intellectual property transactions in-house, she has a deep appreciation of client needs and knows how to deliver strategic solutions. Julie received her law degree from Wake Forest University Law School, holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and is a Certified Licensing Professional.
Chief Operations Program Officer
Dr. Yoo is a surgeon and researcher whose interest lies in the clinical translation of tissue engineering and cell-based therapies. His background in cell biology and medicine has facilitated the transfer of numerous cell-based technologies from the bench to the bedside. He has been involved in the engineering of applicable tissues and organs, including blood vessels, heart valves, kidney, cartilage, gone, muscle, bladder and urethra for clinical translation. His extensive experience in cell culture, biomaterials design and surgical techniques have contributed to achieving functional tissues and organs for successful pre-clinical and clinical studies.
Chief Scientific Program Officer
As an expert in the field of angiogenesis, Soker is studying ways to enhance the vascularization and innervation of bioengineered tissues using growth factors and circulating endothelial progenitor cells in angiogenesis.
His lab is developing new approaches to enhance the growth of blood vessels and nerves into engineered or regenerated tissue. Recently, we applied our expertise to develop 3D small tissue constructs to allow testing of new drugs without the need to tests in animals and as models for disease such as cancer. This technology will allow the development of new drugs for treating cancer patients and also to test the effects of the treatments on cancer cells from each individual patient.
Joan Schanck, MPA
Chief Education Program Officer
Joan’s work is focused on providing high quality educational programming within the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In her role, she also works to increase awareness of the Institute’s leadership role within the field of biomedicine. Joan's professional background includes more than 20 years of specialized experience in administration, education, research, fund raising, collaborative team building, program development and direct care/services delivery within the university, community and non-profit, public health, and education setting. Throughout her career, she has recognized the importance of education and the need to develop collaborative, multidisciplinary education and research training across formal and informal educational environments.
Genevra Kelly, MPH
Chief Philanthropy Program Officer
Genevra focuses on developing public and private sector collaborative partnerships and resources in support of the Institute’s work. She has an extensive background in higher education, health care, and nonprofit markets. Her areas of expertise include collaborative partnerships, including initiating, designing and establishing news public health focused research and patient care programs; federal grant management including pre and post award processes and grants oversight; nonprofit management; and capital campaign design, constituent relations, marketing, public relations, communications, and strategic planning. She is a graduate of Salem Academy, Davidson College (BS – Biology) and USC (MPH). She can be reached at gkelly@wakehealth.edu regarding opportunities for collaboration and partnership as well as for information on philanthropic opportunities.
Lynn Stedman, MBA
Chief Research Administration and Finance Officer
Lynn joined the Institute as its inaugural lead of the Office of Research Administration. She obtained her MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and brings 30-plus years of experience with industry and government contracts, contract manufacturing, financial analysis and business management.