VISE Spring Seminar – Jason A. Spector, M.D., FACS
VISE Spring Seminar
to be led by
Jason A. Spector, M.D., FACS
Professor of Plastic Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Bioengineering,
Weill Cornell Medical College
(Hosted by VU Biomedical Engineering, co-sponsored by VISE)
Date: Thursday, January 25, 2018
Location: Stevenson Center 5326
Time: 12:25 p.m. start, 12:15 p.m. lunch
Title:
The Ultimate Plastic Surgery: Tissue Regeneration, Biomimicry and Precision Medicine.
Abstract:
“Plastic” surgery, derived from the Greek word meaning “malleable or moldable” has long relied upon “robbing Peter to pay Paul” in order to reconstruct tissues congenitally absent or damaged by disease and traumatic injury. Since the term was coined several decades ago, Tissue Engineering has long promised to provide an alternative to the obligatory donor site morbidity resultant from reconstructive surgery. In this seminar we will explore how we have moved to the precipice of clinical translation of non-vascularized engineered tissues (e.g. cartilage), but remain years away from successfully building “human scale” tissues with an inherent hierarchical vascular network. Nonetheless, tissue engineering techniques will have an immediate impact in the realm of diagnostics via development of an appropriate ex vivo model system that not only faithfully recapitulates the in vivo microenvironment experienced by the tumor, but also allows for high throughput evaluation of new therapies in a patient-specific fashion, heralding a new era of precision medicine.
Bio:
Jason A. Spector, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a Professor of Surgery and Otolaryngology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Adjunct Professor in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. He is a nationally recognized board-certified plastic surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine where his primary clinical interests include reconstructive microsurgery of the head & neck, breast and lower extremities as well as cosmetic surgery. For the last several years Dr. Spector has been recognized as a top plastic surgeon by U.S. News & World Report, Castle and Connelly and locally by New York Magazine. Dr. Spector is a member of several regional and national plastic surgery societies including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, American Association of Plastic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, Plastic Surgery Research Council, Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. Dr. Spector serves as an oral board examiner for the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
A native of New York City, he completed his undergraduate degree at Cornell University in 1991, where he graduated with distinction and was named to Cornell’s Golden Key National Honor Society. Dr. Spector graduated from New York University School of Medicine in 1996, where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and winner of the Valentine Mott Award for his outstanding research. In 1999, he won the Best Resident Research Presentation at the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons, and in 2003 he won the Best Research Presentation at the New York Regional Society of Plastic Surgeons’ Residents Competition. Dr. Spector obtained his medical degree from New York University Medical Center, where he also received his training in general surgery under Frank Spencer, M.D., plastic surgery at NYU’s Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery under Joseph G. McCarthy, M.D. and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship under Michael T. Longaker, M.D. and a clinical fellowship in reconstructive microsurgery (IRPS).
In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Dr. Spector is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery (LBMS) at Weill Cornell Medicine. The LBMS focuses on novel approaches for tissue engineering, wound healing and precision medicine as well as the development of various translational technologies from bench to bedside. Dr. Spector has published more than 110 peer reviewed articles and has received funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health, where he is also a standing member of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering SBIR/STTR study section. In 2013 Dr. Spector was awarded the World Technology Award, in Health & Medicine by the World Technology Network for his pioneering work in ear tissue engineering. Dr. Spector has 6 patents issued or in process. In his role as surgeon and scientist, Dr. Spector has mentored dozens of high school, undergraduate and medical students as well as numerous residents, Ph.D. students, and post-docs. Dr. Spector and his wife Beth have two boys, Josh, 15, and Sam, 12, and live in Greenwich Village in New York City.