Sectors: Longevity Legends, Research and Academia. Anthony Atala, M.D., is the W.H. Boyce professor and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and chair of the Department of Urology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. Regenerative medicine is "a practice that aims to refurbish diseased or damaged tissue using the body's own healthy cells". Dr. Atala is one of the most influential names in the field of regenerative medicine and biotechnology. His research focuses on growing human cells and tissues for use in transplants, and given the constant dire need for organ donors worldwide, his work is poised to improve—and save—the lives of millions. He and his team have already successfully engineered and transplanted bladders into living patients, and as he’s told us himself, more types of tissue have been engineered and tested in models; hopefully, they will one day be usable in patients as well. Dr. Atala’s groundbreaking work has earned him countless awards, prizes, and nominations in well-known magazines, such as Scientific American, Time Magazine, the Huffington Post, and many others; he has also served on the boards and committees of several organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and SENS Research Foundation. In 2011, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He was named by Scientific American as a Medical Treatments Leader of the Year for his contributions to the fields of cell, tissue, and organ regeneration. Dr. Atala's work was listed as one of Time Magazine's top ten medical breakthroughs of the year, and as Discover Magazine's top science story of the year in the field of medicine in 2007. He serves on the editorial board of the scientific journal Rejuvenation Research and on the national board of advisors for High Point University.