Healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Regenerative Medicine, Dermagraft, and Heal2gether

Researchers have been working for more than 20 years to develop regenerative medicine therapies which will repair or replace tissue or organ function that does not heal or repair on its own. This field, still in its infancy, holds great promise. To date, however, there’s been a fair share of disappointment surrounding regenerative medicine, since after all these years it hasn’t delivered cures for diseases like Parkinson’s or type 1 diabetes. That said, regenerative medicine has had its successes, and one of them is in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Dean Tozer, Senior Vice President of Advanced BioHealing, Inc. answered questions for us about diabetic foot ulcers, Dermagraft, a therapy used to treat them, and a new community health education program called Heal2gether.

Jessica Apple

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)