Prof. Dame Julia Polak Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre, Imperial College, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK

Prof. Dame Julia Polak graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and obtained her postgraduate training in the UK. She became Professor and Director of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre, Imperial College London in 1997. She was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Imperial... read moreCollege Institute of Biomedical Engineering and also a member of the Stem Cell Advisory Board Panel of the joint MRC/UKSCF. She was a council member of the Tissue Engineering Society International and the Academy of Medical Sciences (2002 - 2005) and was European Editor of Tissue Engineering until 2004. She the authored some 1000 original papers, 116 review articles and 25 books and is one of the most Highly Cited Researchers in her field. Her initial research was focused on histochemistry but this changed after she herself underwent a heart and lung transplant after suffering severe heart failure caused by pulmonary hypertension. After recovering she redirected her research to tissue engineering and led research into using stem cells to produce artificial organs for transplant. She was a co-founder and Director of Novathera. She received a number of honours including a Life Time Achievement Award for contributions to Endocrine Pathology. She was awarded her DBE in 2003. She died on 11th August 2014 and is survived by her husband and two sons.