Key Opinion Leaders play a key role in the development of Wound Bed Preparation, it is thanks to their continued efforts and commitment to raising awareness that WBP is increasingly being recognised by healthcare professionals as the next great paradigm after moist wound healing. The concept of WBP identifies a number of barriers that obstruct wound healing and recognises that these need to be removed before wound healing can take place.

Research and publishing in Wound Bed Preparation has been taking place over recent years. Below are ten of the leading international clinicians in this field, who collectively make up an International Advisory Board.

View the International Wound Bed Preparation Advisory Board talking about the concept of TIME. The video is approximately 4 minutes long.

Professor of Dermatology and Biochemistry,                           Boston University
Chairman of Dermatology and Training Program,
Roger Williams Medical Centre, Rhode Island, USA
 
Vincent Falanga, MD, FACP is a Professor at Boston University School of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology and Training Program at the Roger Williams Medical Centre, Providence, Rhode Island. Dr Falanga graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1977 and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Dermatology. An internationally recognised expert in chronic wounds, he has over 200 publications and has co-authored four textbooks on wound healing. Dr Falanga oversees clinical investigation for the development of new approaches to wound healing and the treatment of diabetic, venous and pressure ulcers. He is a consultant for the National Institute of Health and other granting agencies, and oversees a basic science program dedicated to wound healing and fibrosis. He is a member of the American Dermatological Association, Society of Investigative Dermatology, American Federation of Clinical Research, American Academy of Dermatology, American College of Physicians and the American College of Rheumatology. 

Professor of Medicine and Public Health Science
Director of Continuing Education,
Department of Medicine, University of Toronto
Director, Dermatology Day Care and Wound Healing Clinic,
Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences, Toronto, Canada
 
Professor R. Gary Sibbald is a specialist in internal medicine and dermatology with a special interest in chronic wound care and a master’s degree in education. He was a founding board member of the Association for Advancement of Wound Care in the United States and a co-founder and past chairman of the Canadian Association of Wound Care.  His dermatology expertise led to his roles as advisory council executive member for Canada of the American Academy of Dermatology and a previous president of the Toronto Dermatological Association.  Professor Sibbald is the director of continuing education for the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and chair of the Faculty Continuing Education Committee and a board member of the Canadian Association of Continuing Health Education.

Presently, Professor Sibbald is the director of the Dermatology Daycare and Wound Healing Clinic at the Women’s College Campus of Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre.  He is the director of the International Interdisciplinary Wound Care Course at the University of Toronto and co-editor of the Third Edition of Chronic Wound Care: A Clinical Source Book for Healthcare Professionals.

On the international scene, he is the chair of the Education Committee of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies. Dr. Sibbald has lectured and presented at over 500 scientific meetings on five continents.  He has published over 100 articles and book chapters.

Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine (Wound Healing)
University of Wales College of Medicine, UK
 
Keith Harding, MB ChB, MRCGP, FRCS is a professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine with an expertise in basic science and prevention and treatment of all chronic wounds. For the past ten years he has been director of the Wound Healing Research Unit, a self funded unit within the College of Medicine, designed to provide academic and clinical focus in wound healing. Professor Harding is a founding member of the European Wound Management Association, President of the European Tissue Repair Society. He has authored over 200 publications in peer review journals. From 1980-1990 he was principal in General Practice in Cardiff, UK. 

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Florida USA
 
Dr Schultz is the Director of the Institute for Wound Research at the University of Florida. Dr Schultz's research focuses on the role of growth factors, cytokines and proteases in normal and chronic wound healing in the skin and in the eye. He has published over 170 research papers, chapters and review articles, which have been cited more than 4,400 times. He has been continuously funded by grants form the National Institutes of Health, has multiple patents in the areas of wound healing, and is a consultant for pharmaceutical and biotechnical companies.

He served as President of the Wound Healing Society from 1999-2001.

Associate Professor of Surgery, Fremantle Hospital, Australia
 
Michael Stacey is a general and vascular surgeon and has a research interest in wound healing and chronic venous disease. His specific research interests are in the biochemistry and molecular biology of impaired healing in chronic venous ulcers. He also has research interests in venous physiology, pressure ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers. He was Inaugural President of the Australian Wound Management Association.

He is currently Chairman of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies, and is on the Editorial Board of a number of journals associated with wound healing, in particular Wound Repair and Regeneration, The Journal of Wound Care, and Primary Intention.

Professor of Surgery, Montpellier University, France
 
Luc Teot is qualified in general, orthopaedic and plastic surgery. He is Founding President of the French Society for Wound Care, Board member of the European Tissue Repair Society and President and organiser of The 2nd World Wound Healing Congress, to take place in Paris in 2004. He has authored over 20 international publications and 47 French publications on several aspects of surgery. He is on a number of journal editorial boards, has authoured eight books and written 17 chapters in French and international publications.

Nurse Consultant Tissue Viability , Newham Primary Care Trust, London
 
Caroline Dowsett is a Nurse Consultant and has been working in the field of Tissue Viability for the past seven years. She won Wound Care Nurse of the Year in 1999. She also lectures on wound care courses at both City and South Bank Universities, London and is currently undertaking a PhD at City University, London. She is an Executive Committee member of the National Leg Ulcer Forum. She had authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and is currently a member of the Tissue Viability Society.

Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of New York, USA.
 
Elizabeth is a clinical nurse specialist, her area of speciality is adult Medical-Surgical nursing. She is particularly focused on the care of patients with all types of wounds and ostomies. Elizabeth's research interests include Nursing Education, distance learning, Wound Care, Pressure Ulcer risk assessment.
Internationally known for her expertise in wound care Elizabeth has served as the President for the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP), and as a past co-chair and now current member of the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society (WOCN) Accreditation Committee, Elizabeth has developed criteria for evaluating all the WOCN programs in the US.
For the past two years, Elizabeth has been a consultant to the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for their 3 year project to develop a scope and severity scale for Pressure Ulcers. She has authored several books and papers including: Pressure ulcers in America. Prevalence, Incidence, and implications for the future and "Skip the knife. Debriding wounds without surgery"

Professor of Dermatology
Rheintalklinik Astoria-Privatkliniken, Bad Krozingen, Germany
 
Professor Wolfgang Vanscheidt is a Professor of Dermatology and President of the German Wound Healing Society (DGfW). In 2002 he was made a co-opted Member of the Board of the European Wound Management Association (EWMA). His main research topics are pathogenesis and therapy of venous leg ulcers, phlebology and laser therapy both experimentally and clinically. Since 1987 Professor Vanscheidt has participated in numerous international clinical multicentre studies in phebology and wound treatment, and has in some cases been the leader of the clinical study. He has published numerous papers and sits on the editorial board for a number of national and international publications.

Consultant Dermatologist at the Department of Dermatology and Head of Wound Healing Service at Azienda Ospedaliera Pisana and University of Pisa.
 
Currently President and founding member of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP), he is also board member of the European Tissue Repair Society (ETRS), council member of the European wound Management Association (EWMA). He is member of the editorial board of the journal WOUNDS and referees several peer-reviewed journals in the field of chronic wounds. He is also member and fellow of several scientific societies. He is the author and co-author of numerous scientific papers and book chapters in the field of tissue repair. Research interests include tissue engineering for acute and chronic wounds, measurements in wound healing, management of pressure ulcers. Dr. Romanelli is the clinical project leader of a research program named DERMA which received a two years (2001-2003) research grant from the European Commission inside the Fifth Framework program. Partners in this project include Oxford Wound Healing Institute, Copenhagen Wound Healing Centre and Wound Healing Unit in Budapest. The study is devoted to the creation of an engineering prototype for the advanced measurements of wound physical and biochemical parameters. The Wound Healing Unit in Pisa is organised as a multi disciplinary team to serve as a centre of excellence for the central part of Italy. The team is working on acute and chronic wounds and has a special interest in research and continuing medical education in this field. An annual National Tissue Repair School in Pisa two years ago with the objective to create professional expertises in wound healing.

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