Chemical engineering alum Michael J. Yaszemski '77 '78G has been named to the Regenerative Medicine Advisory Board of BioBridge Global, which provides a range of products and services in regenerative medicine, including human cells and tissue, testing, and biomanufacturing and clinical services, through its three operating entities: GenCure, QualTex Laboratories and the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center.
The advisory board comprises industry leaders with a wide range of scientific, product development and business experience brought together to support the organization’s continued growth in regenerative medicine.
Yaszemski is a professor of orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering at the Mayo Clinic and director of its Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory. He served as chair of the FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health Advisory Committee, and is currently a member of the FDA Science Board. He is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general.
BioBridge Global is launching the second phase of its GenCure biomanufacturing capacity expansion. The 21,000-square-foot facility will produce the large numbers of consistent, high-quality, clinical-grade adult stem cells needed to help bring potential new therapies into human clinical trials. The center is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
About Dr. Michael J. Yaszemski
Dr. Michael J. Yaszemski is the Krehbiel Family Endowed Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the Mayo Clinic and director of its Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory.
He is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and served in the office of the Air Force Surgeon General and the office of the President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences prior to retiring in 2013. He served as president of the Mayo Clinic medical staff from 2013-14 and had served for 10 years as the Chair of the Spine Surgery Division of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Mayo Clinic Rochester prior to entering the presidential line.
He organized and then served as the first chair of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering study section at NIH and served as a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering from 2010-14.
He currently is a member of the NIH Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases. He served as chair of the FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health Advisory Committee and is a member of the FDA Science Board. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors. He has 84 issued patents and 24 additional patents pending. He is an emeritus member of the Lehigh University Board of Trustees.
His clinical practice encompasses spine surgery and musculoskeletal oncology. His research interests are in the synthesis and characterization of novel degradable polymers for use in bone regeneration, cartilage regeneration, nervous tissue regeneration, and controlled delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to musculoskeletal tumors.
He received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University in 1977 and 1978, an M.D. from Georgetown University in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995.
About BioBridge Global
BioBridge Global (BBG) is a San Antonio, Texas-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that offers diverse services through its subsidiaries – the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, QualTex Laboratories, GenCure and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation. BBG provides products and services in blood resource management, cellular therapy, donated umbilical cord blood and human tissue as well as testing of blood, plasma and tissue products for clients in the United States and worldwide. BBG is committed to saving and enhancing lives through the healing power of human cells and tissue. It enables advances in the field of regenerative medicine by providing access to human cells and tissue, testing services and biomanufacturing and clinical trials support.
