Biographical note

Giuseppe Orlando, MD, PhD, Marie Curie Fellow, is an Associate Professor and a kidney and pancreas transplant surgeon scientist at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston Salem, USA. His research aims at developing platforms for the bioengineering and regeneration of transplantable organs, and at developing therapies to enhance the innate ability of the human body to repair itself after damage. His literature output aims at bridging organ transplantation to regenerative medicine. At the San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan, Italy) Lorenzo Piemonti serves as Director of Diabetes Research Institute and Director of Human Islet Transplantation Program. He also serves as Head of the Beta Cell Biology Unit (Diabetes Research Institute), Director of Human Islet Processing Facility, and coordinator of European Consortium for Islet Transplantation that has been providing Human beta Cell Products for research across state barriers in Europe since 2000. He also serves as Professor in Endocrinology at University “Vita Salute San Raffaele” of Milan and as Honorary Visiting Professor at Vrije Universiteit of Brussel. His area of expertise is mainly focused on diabetes and pancreatology. In particular he has large experience about diabetes and pancreatic cancer. He had in the past studied the role of innate immunity in islet cell biology (especially in the human model of islet transplantation in type 1 diabetes recipient) and in pancreatic cancer biology (especially the role of chemokines and chemokine receptor system in inducing leukocytes infiltration). More recently, his research interests includes beta cell replacement, immune tolerance induction strategies, dendritic cell biology, stem cells. He currently serves as section Editor of Cell Transplantation-the Regenerative Medicine Journal and of Current Diabetes Reports, as editorial board of Acta Dibetologia, as Councilor of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (IPITA) of The Transplantation Society (TTS), as member of the National Committee for Food Safety (2018-2021, Italian Ministry of Health) and previously (2011-2017) as member of the European Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (EPITA) committee of European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT). Lorenzo Piemonti authored more than 200 original articles published in peer-reviewed journals surveyed in PubMed. h-index (December 2018): 43 Web of Science; 47 Scopus; 53 Google Scholar. Considering the period 2001-2018 Lorenzo Piemonti authored a total of 165 original articles published in peer-reviewed journals for an impact factor of 918.344 (mean impact factor: 5.566) Camillo Ricordi holds the Stacy Joy Goodman Chair in Diabetes Research. He is Professor of Surgery, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Diabetes Research Institute (www.diabetesresearch.org ) and the Cell Transplant Program at the University of Miami. After developing the method for human pancreatic islet isolation, he led the team that performed the first series of successful clinical islet allotransplants to reverse diabetes. He is currently serving as Chairperson of the NIH funded Clinical Islet Transplantation (CIT) Consortium, which standardized cell manufacturing protocols in North America and Europe and just completed the first multicenter FDA Phase III trial of islet transplantation in the US. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of CellR4 (www.cellr4.org) and serves as Founding Chairman of The Cure Alliance (www.thecurealliance.org) and of the Diabetes Research Institute Federation (www.diabetesresearch.org). In 2018 Ricordi was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors for contributing outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society. That same year he was ranked as the #1 world expert in transplantation of insulin producing cells for treatment of diabetes, among over 4,000 physicians, surgeons and scientists evaluated. In 2019 Ricordi was appointed to the Supreme Council of Health (Consiglio Superiore di Sanita) by the Italian Ministry of Health. Ricordi also serves as President of the Board of ISMETT (Mediterranean Institute of Transplantation and Advanced Therapies; http://www.ismett.edu), and was appointed President of Fondazione Ri.MED (http://www.fondazionerimed.eu) by the Italian Prime Minister, for the 2013-2017 term. Ricordi was founding president of the Fondazione Cure Alliance ONLUS and of The Cure Alliance (www.thecurealliance.org) and Chairman of the Diabetes Research Institute Federation (http://www.diabetesresearch.org/Research-Collaboration), coordinating and promoting cure focused research at over 24 leading institutions worldwide, while further developing Telescience platform technologies to eliminate geographic barriers to scientific collaboration. These initiatives now allow scientists and project teams from around the world to synergize efforts and work together like if they are in the same physical space (https://www.corriere.it/cronache/19_febbraio_05/consiglio-superiore-sanita-nomine-7d42c47e-293e-11e9-950e-d545297d98ec.shtml). Dr. Ricordi has been awarded 27 patents, has >1,000 scientific publications, >40,000 citations and a 95 H-index. Robert J. Stratta, MD, is Professor and Jesse H. Meredith Chair in Transplant Surgery and Director of Transplantation at Wake Forest Baptist Health, which is currently one of the largest kidney and pancreas transplant centers in the US. He also has a cross-appointment as a Professor both in Urology and with the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine. He accepted this appointment in October 2001 following many years as Professor of Surgery and Director of Pancreas Transplantation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and as Professor of Surgery at the University of Tennessee, Memphis. After earning his B.S. degree at the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Stratta received his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine and trained in General Surgery at the University of Utah. He then completed a transplant clinical and research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is co-author of 6 books, 39 book chapters, 731 abstracts, 102 online commentaries, 423 oral presentations, and 439 peer-reviewed articles dealing predominantly with transplantation. He has accumulated more than $9 million in career research funding. He has been active in medical school, surgical resident, and transplant fellow education since 1988; is a member of 25 medical societies; three editorial and physician review boards each; and numerous local, regional, and national committees including United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) activities since 1988. His areas of research interest and expertise include kidney and pancreas allocation and transplantation, immunosuppressive strategies, organ donation and preservation, and expanded criteria donors. He is Past President of the Executive Board of Directors of Carolina Donor Services and was recently Councillor of UNOS Region 11 and a member of the UNOS Board of Directors. He has lectured worldwide on kidney and pancreas transplantation, has performed more than 2000 transplants in his career, is board certified in General Surgery, and has been selected as one of the Best Doctors in America since 1993, one of America's Top Surgeons since 2004, and is currently listed as one of America’s Top Doctors and the Patients’ Choice Award. Dr. Rainer W. G. Gruessner, MD, FACS, FICS, is Professor of Surgery at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. He formerly served as Chairmen of the Departments of Surgery at the University of Zurich, University of Arizona, and State University of New York. Dr. Gruessner is a nationally renowned surgeon and clinical innovator who has developed new surgical techniques for intestinal, pancreas, and liver transplants. He is prolific academic, a committed educator, and successful mentor to surgical and transplant faculty, residents and fellows. Dr. Gruessner’s academic accomplishments include more than 700 published manuscripts, review articles, book chapters, and published abstracts. Dr. Gruessner has been an invited speaker at over 170 institutions and meetings worldwide. He’s (co-) edited five textbooks: the standard textbooks on Transplantation of the Pancreas, Living Donor Transplantation, and Robotic Surgery and serving as senior editor of a textbook on Transplantation, Bioengineering and Regeneration of the Endocrine Pancreas and a textbook on Technological Advances in Surgery, Trauma and Critical Care. He has served as PI and co-investigator on over 20 research projects and clinical trials, supported by industry, foundations, and the NIH. Dr. Gruessner is a member of over 20 national and international professional societies, has organized many international congresses, is an editorial board member for about 10 journals and has served on many professional and societal committees. In 2019, he received the Richard C. Lillehei award from the International Pancreas and Islet Association (IPITA) for his lifetime achievements in the field of pancreas transplantation.