Dr. Luis Garza MD-PhD is an Associate Professor of Dermatology with secondary appointments in Cell Biology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell University, followed by an MD-PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his dermatology residency at the University of Michigan, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of George Cotsarelis at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Garza’s current research focuses on wound healing and regenerative medicine. His lab is funded by the NIH/NIAMS, the DoD, and Maryland State Stem Cell Fund.

His lab explores regeneration using the skin as their model system. They are inspired by the limb regeneration of a salamander as a clue to therapeutic interventions for fibrosis, one of the larges sources of human morbidity. They focus on two areas. In the first, if mammals cannot regrow an entire appendage, can they regrow a hair follicle mini-appendage? On this they focus on the mechanisms of how dsRNA sensing is a damage-repair response and robustly stimulates regeneration. For the second, they ask-- if they cannot regrow an entire limb in mammals-- can they regrow the pressure-responsive type of skin found at the palms and soles at the stump site of an amputee? For this project they focus on how cell-cell interactions modify tissue identity, and the mechanisms of how cell therapy might modify skin identity in mouse models and FDA approved human trials.”