Dr Herman is a key opinion leader and global consultant for industry, pharma, foundations and academia, offering innovative solutions for therapeutic angiogenic and anti-angiogenesis therapeutics development, the creation of next generation diagnostics as well as therapeutics for molecular and cellular medicines for personalized, regenerative medicine. He is currently the Senior Director of Biological Engineering at Precision Healing, Inc.
For the entirety of his discovery- and innovation-based career, and since his days in training at Tulane University, Harvard Medical School and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Herman has been devoted to understanding the basic mechanisms that control wound healing. As a global thought leader, Dr. Herman has made several seminal contributions to our understanding the molecular mechanisms that control post-injury responses, while unveiling central factors, key signaling networks and molecular complexes responsible for regulating host reparative responses and wound resolution. These fundamental insights have given way to innovative strategies as well as several inventions aimed at characterizing wound state as well as controlling the conversion of non-healing wounds into those capable of closure. Dr Herman has also delivered key advances for molecular and cell-based ocular anti-angiogenic therapeutics aiming to ameliorate or prevent the progression of diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. As a lead innovator and key opinion leader, Dr. Herman has chaired international meetings on regenerative medicine while serving on innumerable grant review panels, editorial boards for high-impact journals and scientific advisory boards for biotechnology companies and pharma. He is the recipient of numerous awards, published 100s of peer-reviewed scientific publications and is named inventor on many US and international patents, which describe advanced diagnostics and therapeutics for next generation, precision health care. While at Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Herman rapidly rose through the academic ranks to become tenured and distinguished professor of Cellular, Molecular and Chemical Biology, while holding appointments of comparable rank in the departments of Ophthalmology, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center. At the time he was recruited by Lumicell, Inc. to lead its newly-founded wound care division, now Precision Healing, Inc.
I've known Ira for decades; he served admirably on my Institute's Board as a senior faculty member. He was involved in a variety of special projects, perhaps the most interesting was when he accompanied me to an ALLIES gathering at a US Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he presented his remarkable work on wound recovery. He subsequently hosted an ALLIES delegation of midshipmen in the Mama Kin club of Aerosmith fame. Ira and I share a deep passion for eclectic music, with Ira I think specializing in Rock 'n Roll. Our most distinct bond, of course, is our shared love of his daughter Elizabeth "Biz '' Herman, one of my extraordinary former students. Our most distinct initial interaction was over a controversy that was quickly resolved over Biz's photographic skills, now frequently joked about in our community of VII photographers who admire her greatly.