David Armstrong
PhD, MS
Professor of Surgery with Tenure at the University of Southern California
Founder and co-Director of the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (“SALSA”)
Dr. Armstrong is Professor of Surgery with Tenure at the University of Southern California. Dr. Armstrong holds a Master of Science in Tissue Repair and Wound Healing from the University of Wales College of Medicine and a PhD from the University of Manchester College of Medicine, where he was appointed Visiting Professor of Medicine. He is founder and co-Director of the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (“SALSA”).
Dr. Armstrong has produced more than 600 peer-reviewed research papers in dozens of scholarly medical journals as well as over 100 books or book chapters. He is founding co- Editor of the American Diabetes Association’s Clinical Care of the Diabetic Foot, now entering its fourth edition.
Armstrong is Director of USC’s National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (“C2SHiP.org”) which places him at the nexus of the merger of consumer electronics, wearables and medical devices in an effort to maximize hospital-free and activity-rich days.
Dr. Armstrong was selected as one of the first six International Wound Care Ambassadors and is the recipient of numerous awards and degrees by universities and international medical organizations including the inaugural Georgetown Distinguished Award for Diabetic Limb Salvage. In 2008, he was the 25th and youngest-ever member elected into the Podiatric Medicine Hall of Fame. He was the first surgeon to be appointed University Distinguished Outreach Professor at the University of Arizona. He was the first podiatric surgeon to become a member of the Society of Vascular Surgery and the first US podiatric surgeon named fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow. He is the 2010 and youngest ever recipient of the ADA’s Roger Pecoraro Award, the highest award given in the field.
Dr. Armstrong is past Chair of Scientific Sessions for the ADA’s Foot Care Council, and a past member of the National Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association. He sits on the Infectious Disease Society of America’s (“IDSA”) Diabetic Foot Infection Advisory Committee and is the US appointed delegate to the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot. Dr. Armstrong is the founder and co-chair of the International Diabetic Foot Conference (“DF-Con”), the largest annual international symposium on the diabetic foot in the world. He is also the Founding President of the American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS), a medical and surgical society dedicated to building interdisciplinary teams to eliminate preventable amputation in the USA and worldwide.
Andrew Boulton
MB, BS, MD, FRCP
Professor of Medicine (Diabetes), University of Manchester
Consultant Physician, Manchester Royal Infirmary
Andrew Boulton is Professor of Medicine with a special interest in diabetes and its complications at the University of Manchester and Consultant Physician at Manchester Royal Infirmary. His clinical role includes inpatient supervision of patients with diabetic complications and outpatient clinics at the Manchester Diabetes Centre. As director of the DIALEX (Diabetes Lower Extremity) Research Group Prof Boulton is responsible for the planning of clinical research into diabetic complications, developing collaborative research with colleagues in Europe and North America, running undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in diabetes and its complications.
Prof Boulton is currently President, International Diabetes Federation and Chairman, European Alliance for Diabetes Research (EURADIA). He was the 2017 Banting Memorial Lecturer of Diabetes UK. He is also currently the President of Worldwide Initiative for Diabetes Education and has strong links with American centres. Prof Boulton was the immediate past-President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes up till 2016.
Prof Boulton currently holds the appointment of Professor of Medicine (Diabetes) at the University of Manchester and is a Consultant Physician at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. He has published over 300 peer review papers and currently holds major grants. Prof Boulton was the first Awardee of the International Award into Diabetic Foot Research (1995) and has also received the Castelli-Pedroli Prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (2003), the Roger Pecoraro Award from the American Diabetes Association (1996) and the Edward Olmos Award for Advocacy in the Prevention of Amputation in Diabetes (2005).
Prof Boulton is currently an Associate Editor for Diabetes Care as well as being on the Editorial Board of Current Diabetes reports and the International Diabetes Monitor. He was formally Editor of Diabetic Medicine (1991- 1995). His other current appointments include being the advisor to the NIH for the EDIC Study (Epidemiology of Diabetes and its Complications), the follow up of the DCTT Study. From 2002 to 2004 Andrew Boulton was Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami and he still holds a visiting professorship to the Diabetes Research Institute of that University.
Paul Kemp
PhD
Paul is a recognised pioneer in the field of Regenerative Medicine and has over 25 years’ experience in the US and UK in the commercialisation of various Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy products in both public and private Companies. Over the years, he has built a successful track record in all aspects of the business, from carrying out translational research, in-licensing technologies from Universities and out-licensing products to a variety of HealthCare Companies, designing, obtaining regulatory approval and running clinical trials in the US, Canada, UK and Europe, designing, building and operating GMP facilities, founding biotech companies, and launching, marketing and selling cell based products in the US and UK.
When at Organogenesis Inc, he was the lead inventor on patents for the first multi-cell therapy approved by the FDA and was involved in all stages of the development of this product from the bench, through the clinical trial process, development of a licensing and marketing partnership and the eventual approval and launch in the US. This product has now treated well over half a million patients and is the largest selling manufactured cell therapy in the world. After Organogenesis, Paul returned to the UK and was the sole founder of Intercytex. He served as CEO for the first 5 years and under his leadership the company grew rapidly, attracted significant VC investment from Europe, the US and Asia. During this period, Intercytex developed several products that reached the clinic, including the world’s first cell therapy clinical trial to induce new hair formation and carried out with Bessam and Nilofer Farjo.
Paul has numerous patents and publications in the field and is often invited to speak at International Conferences and sit on a variety of panels, grant funding bodies and regulatory committees. He is co-editor of the Journal of Regenerative Medicine, a co-Director of the Doctoral Training Centre in Regenerative Medicine at Manchester University and Industrial Director of Regener8.
Wong Keng Lin, Francis
FRCSEd (Orth), PhD
Consultant and Research Lead, Orthopaedic Surgery, SKH
Director, Research, SKH
Chair, Wound Committee, SKH
Campus Service Chief, SingHealth Duke-NUS Cell Therapy Centre
Dr Wong completed his clinician scientist residency in NUHS as the pioneer Orthopaedic Surgery Clinician Scientist (CS) Resident. He also completed his Master of Clinical Investigation as part of the CS track training in NUS. During his residency training, he was the Chief Resident from 2016 to 2017, and was a member of the Singapore Chief Residency Programme (SCRP) in 2014-2015 (Cohort 2). Francis won the recipient of the Best Senior Resident Award, NUHS Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programme, for 3 consecutive years (2014, 2015, 2016). He was also awarded the Singapore Orthopaedic Association: Young Orthopaedic Investigator’s Award in 2013 during his residency. Dr Wong completed his PhD in cartilage regeneration at The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in January 2022, as the inaugural Orthopaedic Surgery Resident in Singapore to win the prestigious National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Research Training Fellowship. He then obtained his first NMRC New Investigator Grant (NIG) in 2015, and has since also obtained his NMRC Transition Award in 2022, being the first ever nationally recognised and funded Orthopaedic Surgeon Scientist by receiving this award.
Since joining the Musculoskeletal Academic Clinical Programme (MSK ACP) at Duke-NUS in August 2018, Francis has been actively involved in MSK ACP clinical research projects and has assisted colleagues in achieving academic success. He is the research lead for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Sengkang General Hospital and have set up the research structure for the department in both clinical and translational research. In 2020, Dr Wong successfully created the Orthopaedic Diagnostic Centre and Sports Medicine Registries to measure clinical outcomes for their department patients. To date, Dr Wong has more than 60 peer reviewed journal articles, with H-index of 18. In 2021, he was promoted to the Research Director of Sengkang General Hospital, achieving the feat of being the youngest candidate to assume a senior leadership role in research in any hospital in Singapore. He was also promoted to the Campus Service Chief for the SingHealth Duke-NUS Cell Therapy Centre to coordinate cell therapy efforts within the hospital.
Francis’ clinical interests are in both sports medicine and sports surgery, in particular cartilage regeneration and restoration, where he became the very first Fellow of the International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society (ICRS) to represent South-East Asia; and in orthopaedic surgery advanced wound care. He is currently a member of the NextGen Committee in ICRS. For his clinical work and patient service, Dr Wong became the Award Recipient of the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards (SHQSA) STAR category in 2022.
In terms of wound healing within the orthopaedic surgery realm, Dr Wong has a special interest in healing complex wounds using innovative technologies, including limb salvage surgery for diabetic foot wounds. He has received significant university funding to venture into various Clinical Trials that seek to improve the healing rate of complex orthopaedic surgery wounds and is currently the programme leader of the hospital’s multi-disciplinary orthopaedic surgery wound and lower limb salvage service: the Diabetic Limb Salvage (DLS) clinic, where nurses, doctors, podiatrists and allied health professionals come together to heal difficult wounds and give patients a new lease of life to walk again. Dr Wong currently serves as the Chairman of the Wound Committee in Sengkang General Hospital, and have received numerous invitations to speak by wound societies such as the ASEAN Wound Council and industry leaders such as 3M, Molnlycke, and Urgo.