Anthony Atala

Healthcare speaker Anthony Atala is the founding Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), the George Link Jr. Professor of Urology, and Chair of the Department of Urology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He is widely regarded as the world’s foremost pioneer in regenerative medicine — the science of repairing and replacing damaged human tissues and organs using the body’s own cells — and has spent decades turning what once seemed like science fiction into clinical reality.

Keynote speaker Anthony Atala leads a team of more than 450 physicians, researchers, and engineers working on over 40 different tissues and organs. His laboratory has produced 16 clinical applications of cell and tissue therapy technologies that have been used in human patients — including skin, bladders, urethras, cartilage, muscle, and vaginal organs — making WFIRM the most clinically productive regenerative medicine institute in the world. Atala is the creator of the Integrated Tissue and Organ Printing System (ITOP), the first 3D bioprinter capable of producing human-scale tissue constructs. His team developed the first lab-grown organ — a bladder — ever successfully implanted into a human being, a milestone recognized twice by Time magazine as one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of the year. More recently, his kidney research team was awarded the prestigious $1 million KidneyX Prize for a breakthrough 3D kidney construct platform with the potential to address the global organ transplant shortage.

Recognition at the Highest Level

Atala’s credentials span science, surgery, and institutional leadership at the highest levels. He has published over 800 peer-reviewed journal articles, holds more than 250 national and international patents, and has edited 25 books including Principles of Regenerative Medicine and 3D Biofabrication. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, a charter fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He was elected Chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons — one of the most prestigious governance roles in surgery — following a career of service to the NIH, the National Cancer Institute’s Advisory Board, and the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. WFIRM was also awarded a landmark up to $160 million NSF Engines grant to build a regional regenerative medicine innovation hub, cementing the institute’s role as a national driver of the field.

As a speaker, Anthony Atala offers audiences a rare combination of visionary science and clinical proof. Where others forecast what bioprinting might one day achieve, Atala has already done it — in the operating room, with real patients. His TED talk on printing a human kidney has captivated millions worldwide, and his keynotes translate that same clarity and wonder into the urgent questions facing healthcare, biotech, and innovation leaders: how do we solve the organ shortage crisis, what will medicine look like when we can grow tissues on demand, and how do we build the policy and investment frameworks to get there? Organizations book Anthony Atala when they need a speaker who doesn’t just inspire — he proves.