Regenerative Medicine Pioneer Gives Lecture at Princeton Academy

Imagine a world where instead of surgeries and prosthetics, the disfigured had the ability to grow back their hands or faces.

That’s the world Dr. John Barker is working to create and what he came to talk about during his visit to Princeton Academy on April 23.  A renowned hand and face transplant surgeon, Dr. Barker revealed to faculty and students that he is now on the frontiers of regenerative medicine research in Frankfurt, Germany.

“We’re working to develop new treatment that can get a person to grow a new hand or grow a new face,” explained Dr. Barker, founder of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory at the University of Louisville.

Dr. Barker started his journey around 1995 when he developed a research program in his lab at the University of Louisville that led to the first hand transplant. Since, there have been more than 125 successful hand transplants and 25 face transplants worldwide.

“We took it from being an idea all the way to clinical application,” he said, recalling how a former patient of his is going on 14 years with a hand that was transplanted from fatal car accident victim.

The students also learned about the processes and risks of hand and face transplants, the opportunities of regenerative medicine and the progress Dr. Barker has made in Germany.

“Dr. Barker’s work is on the cutting edge of medicine and biology and his presentation both inspired and informed our students about the many amazing possibilities for furthering their studies in science,” Headmaster Olen Kalkus.