Innovators
Geoffrey C. Gurtner,
MD, FACS
Dr. Gurtner's passion for wound care has led him to develop better treatment options for his patients in need.
About Dr. Gurtner
Dr. Gurtner graduated from Dartmouth College and earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his internship and surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, followed by a plastic surgery residency at the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at NYU Medical Center and a fellowship in oncologic microsurgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Gurtner is internationally recognized as a highly accomplished clinician and prolific researcher, author, inventor, and entrepreneur. He has been awarded more than $27 million in federal research funding and holds 35 patents. He also has founded three venture capital-backed life sciences companies. Dr. Gurtner has authored or co-authored 345 peer-reviewed articles and nearly 50 book chapters, and he has edited the two major textbooks in his field. He is the immediate past board president of the Wound Healing Society, the premier scientific organization focused on would healing.
Tell Us About Yourself
I am a plastic surgeon and general surgeon at Stanford University, and I am also the Director of the Stanford Advanced Wound Care Center.
What was your path to wound care?
As a junior faculty member at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, I saw many patients with complicated wound problems for which I had no good surgical solutions. It was at that point I decided to devote my career to developing better treatment options for these patients in need.
What’s the most challenge part of your job?
Convincing other physicians, third-party payors, and government agencies (like the FDA and NIH) that wound issues destroy lives, drive up health care costs, and can impact a very disadvantaged population. As such, wound issues are worthy of our serious attention.
How are you helping to change the field of wound care?
Currently, I am trying to develop the first small molecule drugs to accelerate wound healing and reduce scar formation.
What advice would you give someone pursuing wound care?
Seeing as we are still in “medieval times” in this area and this work can make big difference…I’d say, go for it!
What’s something innovative you’ve done to advance the field of wound care?
I developed the embrace device (from Neodyne Bioscience) for scars which has treated over 250,000 patients with a 92% approval rating on realself.com.