TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE AWC COMMUNITY
Download the AWC Networking Brochure to find out who you will meet in April and how you can:
- Meet and rise above the challenges of the wound care space by engaging with the most influential figures in the space during our dedicated networking hours.
- Foster partnerships with the future investors and partners of your company and understand how to make your latest innovations successful with our public and private pitching opportunities.
- Understand and overcome hurdles surrounding clinical trials, regulation, and reimbursement during our intimate roundtable sessions, to position yourself for growth in the market.
OUR 2024 ADVISORY BOARD
The AWC Summit Advisory Board helps steer the direction of our events and its content to ensure we stay close to our mission throughout. Our members bring an objective and collaborative approach to their roles and aid in the creation of a platform that is industry-driven and provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to share, network, and build new partnerships.
Vickie Driver
Emma Wright
Emma is an industry professional with 25 years of experience in medical devices in both start-up and international companies, based in UK, US and most recently in Sweden. Her career has been focused on the development and commercialisation of devices in wound care, reconstructive surgery and orthopedics with a specific interest in products that actively promote tissue repair. In the last 10 years Emma has led clinical, medical and health economic teams with responsibility for clinical evidence generation, professional education, medical affairs and health economics.
Ibraheem Badejo
Ibraheem (Ib) is Senior R&D Director, External Front End Innovation at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Boston. He leverages his expertise in smart materials and biomaterials to support the medical device sector.
From 2010 to 2013, Ib was a Research Fellow at Global Surgery Group of Johnson & Johnson, where he was responsible for external and front-end innovations and intellectual property for Ethicon Biosurgery. From 2006 to 2010, he was the Director of Applied Research & New Technology Assessment of novel biomaterials. Prior to that, he was the Chief Scientist of Closure Medical Corp (acquired by J&J in 2005). Prior to joining Closure, he held various positions at Bayer, North Carolina State University, College of Charleston. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University.
During his career, Ib has led teams in the development of commercialized biomaterials based products and new technology / products licensed or acquired.
Ib received his BA degree in chemistry from Avila University. He received his PhD in Organic chemistry from the University of Toledo, where he was the Robert Whiteford Memorial Scholar for Outstanding Graduate Research and a Petroleum Research Fund Fellow. He is also the recipient of 24 US patents with others pending
Thomas Serena
Dr. Thomas E. Serena MD FACS FACHM MAPWCA, Founder and Medical Director of The SerenaGroup®, a family of wound, hyperbaric and research companies, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The College of William and Mary and Penn State Medical School.
To date he has opened and operates wound care centers across the United Sates and globally. Dr. Serena has been the lead or Principal investigator in over 100 clinical trials, including gene therapy for critical limb ischemia, antimicrobial dressings, growth factors, topical and parenteral antibiotics and CTP therapy. He founded the first wound healing cooperative research group that produced more than 12 manuscripts in 2016 alone. In 2011 he developed a diagnostic technique that now bears his name (The Serena Technique©). He holds numerous patents on wound care devices and dressings.
He is recognized internationally as an expert in the field of wound healing: He has more than 200 published papers and has given more than 1000 invited lectures throughout the world. He has published three medical textbooks and authored numerous book chapters. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Wound Healing Society and served two terms on the board of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) and is now the President-Elect. He has also been Vice-President of the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine and President of the American Professional Wound Care Association.
Dr. Serena has done extensive medical relief work with Health Volunteers Overseas and served as chairman of the AAWC Global Volunteers/HVO Steering Committee until 2016. In 2016 in partnership with HEAL Foundation he opened a wound clinic in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Outside of wound healing, he consulted for the government of Rwanda on AIDS prevention research.
David Armstrong
David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of podiatric surgery, diabetic foot, limb preservation, tissue repair and wound healing. He is founder and co-director of the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA), a clinical and research collaborative.
As director of USC’s Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (C2SHIP), he is advancing the latest research in consumer wearables and other health technologies. In 2021, he received a USC Stevens Technology Commercialization Award for his method for treating chronic diabetic foot ulcers, just one of multiple patents he holds.
Dr. Armstrong is coeditor of the American Diabetes Association textbook, Clinical Care of the Diabetic Foot, now in its third edition. He is responsible for more than 100 books or book chapters, along with 600 peer-reviewed research papers in leading medical journals.
His achievements have garnered multiple honors, including the 2010 American Diabetes Association’s Roger E. Pecoraro Award for Lifetime Achievement in Diabetic Foot Care, the highest honor in the field.
Dr. Armstrong is founding president of the American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS), which is bringing together clinicians to help eliminate preventable amputations in the United States and worldwide. He and his Keck Medicine of USC team are working to achieve that goal for people with diabetes over the next generation.
