Dr. Atala is a practicing surgeon and a researcher in the area of regenerative medicine. Dr. Atala is editor of three journals, 25 books, and has published over 800 journal articles, having received over 250 national and international patents. He 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 several awards, including the U.S. Congress funded Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, the World Technology Award in Health and Medicine, 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 five discoveries that will change the future of organ transplants. Other accolades include being named one of the world’s most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American, and one of 14 pioneers of Medical Progress in the 21st Century by U.S. News & World Report. 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.
