Director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine/
W.H. Boyce Professor and Chair, Department of Urology, Wake Forest University.

Dr. Atala is a practicing surgeon and a researcher in the area of regenerative medicine. His current work focuses on growing new human cells, tissues and organs. He is a recipient of the Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, which is given to a living American working on a discovery that will significantly affect society. In 2008, Esquire named him one of the 75 most influential persons of the 21st century. He has applied for or received over 200 national and international patents, plus heads a team of more than 270 physicians and researchers. Ten applications of technologies developed in his laboratory are used clinically.