UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Dr. Dino Ravnic, associate professor of surgery and director of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory at Penn State, has been named the first Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Regenerative Medicine and Surgical Sciences by the University’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
Ravnic, who splits his time between the operating room and the lab, has research interests in the improvement of blood perfusion in both established “replacement parts” and engineered tissues. His research group collaborates with materials science experts, biomedical engineers and vascular biologists to explore the intersection of what is possible on the bench and at the bedside. These collaborations have led to a multitude of hard and soft tissue repair projects. He hopes to inspire other surgeons to explore collaboration with other disciplines.
“With the Huck endowed chair, the goal is to speed the development of collaborative approaches that would allow for rapid clinical translation. I want to get more people from the surgical aspect integrated into these unique disciplines we have at Penn State,” said Ravnic. “Collaboration can move research programs forward, fostering both the science and clinical application. It is interesting for me to come into this engineering world and see all the things being developed and provide a surgical perspective to the clinical relevance.”
Implementing unique surgical approaches for tissue engineered replacement parts requires thinking from a clinical perspective that focuses on the recipient. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is a personalized approach on how the engineered blocks are incorporated, according to Ravnic. One such collaboration with Ibrahim Ozbolat, Hartz Family Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Daniel Hayes, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Nanotherapeutics and Regenerative Medicine, was featured in a Symbiotic Podcast episode.
“From improving wound monitoring and healing to applications of regenerative medicine to patient care, Dr. Ravnic’s projects span a variety of challenges faced by health care providers,” said Dr. Kevin Black, interim dean at the College of Medicine. “His interdisciplinary approach to problem solving is the kind of innovative attitude needed for advancing health and health care.”
Ravnic attended medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a fellowship in reconstructive microsurgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, along with residencies in plastic surgery at Indiana University Affiliated Hospitals and general surgery at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. In addition, he holds master’s degrees in public health from the University of Massachusetts and in stem cells and regeneration from the University of Bristol. He is certified by both the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. Ravnic started working at the Penn State College of Medicine in 2013.
“I’ve developed a lot of relationships up at University Park, including things I never thought I could collaborate with. So, I am finding these new niches and realizing that some of our research goals are similar and complementary, but we are going about it differently,” said Ravnic. “That’s the unique thing about Huck; it is an interesting space for developing partnerships across disciplines and working in a team setting. The larger the team, the more relevance you will be able to achieve at the end.”
“One thing that we pride ourselves in at the Huck is building and maintaining relationships. Dino is a fantastic example of this. The collaborations he has established that bridge the gap between the bench and the bedside will help move the science forward in a real way that could impact health care,” said Andrew Read, director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State. “The establishment of this chair reinforces our commitment to these collaborations and bringing this work to the public. Dino is the perfect person to help lead the integration of more surgical sciences into the work that we do at the Huck.”