Stephen F. Badylak

Dr. Stephen Badylak is a Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Deputy Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He has practiced both veterinary and human medicine and is now fully engaged in research.

Dr. Badylak’s seminal work has shown that extracellular matrix (ECM) can be isolated from mammalian tissues and then used as a therapeutic inductive platform for functional tissue reconstruction. This work has resulted in more than 65 issued US patents, 300 patents worldwide, more than 385 peer review publications, and 50 book chapters. His discoveries played a pivotal role in the genesis of the biologics-based biomedical industry in the 1990’s. There are now more than 60 companies and more than 100 FDA approved ECM based products that are used in almost every body system. More than 10 million patients to date have benefited from the implantation of these materials to treat problems such as ventral hernia, volumetric muscle loss, esophageal cancer, and post myocardial infarction heart failure.

Dr. Badylak received his veterinary degree and his doctoral degree in anatomic pathology from Purdue University, and received his medical degree from Indiana University Medical School. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a member of the Society for Biomaterials, and a charter member and past president of the Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).