UCR Newsroom

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Manuela Martins-Green, a professor of cell biology at UC Riverside, is co-leading the scientific program of an international conference on wound healing in San Diego, Calif., this month.

The 21st Annual Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and The Wound Healing Society Meeting, which brings together clinicians and basic scientists to discuss wounds and wound-related issues, will take place April 24-27 at the San Diego Convention Center, 111 West Harbor Drive.

Martins-Green, a co-chair of the program committee for the Wound Healing Society and an international expert in wound healing, is organizing the Wound Healing Society Meeting, which takes place in conjunction with the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care at the four-day conference.

She encourages junior and senior researchers in the wound-healing field to attend the conference.

“There will be many opportunities to network, and we need the next generation of young scientists to become excited about the field,” Martins-Green said. “Leading wound-healing experts will discuss where the field is in research, and where it should be headed. Although the field is not new, our understanding of the basic mechanisms of the healing process is still in its infancy. Such knowledge is critical for our ability to provide individualized treatment to patients suffering from problematic wounds.”

Wound healing, also called wound repair, is the body's natural process of regenerating dermal and epidermal tissue. An uneventful process for most people, wound-healing can become complicated in some cases, requiring specialized and expensive treatment and care that can continue for months or even years.

At the conference, researchers will discuss how to apply an understanding of wound care to patient care, how to incorporate advanced therapeutic approaches in the field of wound care, as well as how to appreciate the many disciplines that are involved in caring for patients with wound problems.

Comprising educational sessions, meetings, interactive events, and social gatherings, the conference targets physicians, nurses, physical therapists, researchers, podiatrists, dieticians, and members of industry involved in wound healing or wound care issues.

“This is the second year the Wound Healing Society is combining forces with the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care to deliver the latest in bench research results as well as the latest clinical advances in the field,” said Dr. Paul Liu, chief of surgery at Roger Williams Medical Center, Providence, R.I., and a co-chair of the program committee for the Wound Healing Society. “This meeting gathers several thousand of the world’s top care providers and researchers with expertise in difficult wounds. We anticipate clinical outcomes, and hence our patients’ lives, to be improved as a result.”

The conference also will host poster sessions on April 25-26. On April 26, the Wound Healing Society will present the “Young Investigators Award” at its business meeting to a young investigator for outstanding achievement in clinical and laboratory research.

Registration for the conference costs $450 for physicians and $400 for other wound-care clinicians. Day passes cost $200. Students are eligible for a $100 discount on their registration. Reporters interested in covering the conference can attend it at no charge, simply by showing their media credentials.

The 21st Annual Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and The Wound Healing Society Meeting is funded largely by registration fees and membership dues.

The annual Symposium on Advanced Wound Care is the largest gathering of multidisciplinary wound care clinicians in the United States. The Wound Healing Society is a non-profit organization that provides a forum for interaction among scientists, physicians, licensed practitioners, industrial representatives and government agencies.

The University of California, Riverside (www.ucr.edu) is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment of about 18,000 is expected to grow to 21,000 students by 2020. The campus is planning a medical school and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion.

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