Mini Medical School Speaker Bios

John Foker, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. John Foker is a cardiovascular surgeon and serves as the Robert L. and Sharon G. Kaster Professor in the Medical School in the Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, which focuses on the surgical treatment of diseases affecting organs inside the thorax. Dr. Foker’s clinical interests include congenital heart disease, the growth of hypoplastic ventricles and esophageal atresia, and tracheoeophageal fistula. His areas of research focus on the myocardial metabolism and its relation to cardiac function, energy metabolism, and ischemia.

Dan Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Dan Kaufman is a hematologist/oncologist with University of Minnesota Physicians who focuses on developing new cancer therapies. He studies human pluripotent stem cells, or cells that have the ability to become many cell types in the human body, to understand blood development. Dr. Kaufman has discovered a way to transform pluripotent stem cells into lymphocytes (specialized immune cells) that fight both cancer and viruses, including HIV. Dr. Kaufman's lab also uses human pluripotent stem cells to study bone and blood vessel formation, which he believes will lead to other regenerative medicine therapies.

Stephen Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Stephen Kaufman is an ophthalmologist with the University of Minnesota Physicians, a professor, and the director of cornea and refractive surgery at the University of Minnesota. He sees patients who need refractive surgery and has performed more than 15,000 refractive procedures during his career. His clinical interests include corneal surgery and disease, focusing his research on cornea transplant and cornea stem cell replacement.

Walter Low, Ph.D.

Dr. Low researches potential stem cell and other therapies for the treatment of brain tumors and disorders. Currently, he is developing a cancer vaccine for the brain cancer glioblastoma. He and his team discovered a type of stem cell within human umbilical cord blood that has properties of multipotent stem cells, which can form cells of many kinds of tissue. His team investigates whether these cells can restore brain tissue following a stroke, ultimately improving limb mobility. Low’s research also has focused on cell transplantation to restore function in animal models of Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s diseases, ataxia, and gene therapy for lysosomal storage disorders of the brain. 

Cindy Martin, M.D.

Dr. Cindy Martin of the University of Minnesota Physicians is a professor of medicine, director of the Lillehei Heart Institute Stem Cell Flow Facility, and co-director of the Adult Congenital and Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic. Dr. Martin’s practice focuses primarily on patients with advanced heart failure but she also is interested in adult patients with congenital or inherited cardiovascular disease. Her research interests focus on stem cell biology, early cardiac progenitors including SP (side population) cells and their role in cardiovascular development and regeneration. Her research and expertise has been featured in a number of publications.

Ann Parr, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Ann Parr, a neurosurgeon with University of Minnesota Physicians, is finding new therapies for spinal cord injury. Her research centers on the transplantation of neural stem cells into the injured spinal cord, and she has an active translational research laboratory at the Stem Cell Institute. She is interested in examining mechanisms of functional recovery utilizing techniques such as histology and immunohistochemistry, cell tracking through magnetic resonance imaging, and animal modeling.

William Roberts, M.D., M.S.

Dr. William Roberts of University of Minnesota Physicians directs the University’s St. John’s Hospital Family Medicine Residency, is the author of many research and educational publications, and a world-renowned speaker on sports medicine topics. He is editor-in-chief for Current Sports Medicine Reports; past president and current foundation president of the American College of Sports Medicine; a charter member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine; a founding member of the American Road Race Medical Society; medical director for the Twin Cities Marathon; and chair of the Minnesota State High School League Sports Medical Advisory Committee.

Doris Taylor, Ph.D.

Dr. Doris Taylor and her team bring science from bench to bedside. She gained international recognition by developing a process called whole-organ decellularization and creating a beating heart in the laboratory. In this process, her team rinsed a rat heart of its cells and then reseeded the remaining scaffold with a mixture of stem cells, and the heart began to beat. Dr. Taylor demonstrated this approach works for other organs, too. With an ever-present shortage of organs available for transplant, Dr. Taylor hopes the decellularization process may one day make new donor organs.

Robert Tranquillo, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert Tranquillo has served as the head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering since its inception in 2000. Recently, his research program has focused on the role of cell behavior in cardiovascular and neural tissue engineering applications. His research has resulted in 85 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Tranquillo is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society, and a Distinguished McKnight University Professor.

John Wagner, M.D.

Dr. John Wagner of University of Minnesota Physicians is a professor of pediatrics, director of the Division of Hematology-Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and co-director of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University of Minnesota. He is at the forefront of blood and marrow transplantation, and specializes in research and treatment of children with cancer. Wagner has led the University's Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Program in the treatment of adults and children and is responsible for its international prominence, having first pioneered its use beginning in 1990. In addition, Wagner is recognized for his work in Fanconi anemia and use of stem cells in the treatment of severe forms of a rare skin disease called epidermolysis bullosa. He has authored 237 research papers and book chapters.