Dietmar W. Hutmacher
Distinguished Professor and Chair of Regenerative Medicine, Queensland University of Technology.
Professor Dietmar W. Hutmacher is a biomedical engineer, educator, inventor, and creator of new intellectual property opportunities. He is dedicated to fostering transformative research, pedagogical innovation, and programs that promote an entrepreneurial mindset among faculty and students. Dietmar W Hutmacher (DWH) is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of Regenerative Medicine at the Queensland University of Technology. He is also the founding Australian director of the Max Planck Queensland Center (MPQC) for the Materials Science of Extracellular Matrices. After a successful career of over 10 years in the industry, Prof Hutmacher decided to pursue his long-term aspiration of making a mark in academia. He earned his PhD in 2001 at the age of 38. Despite having less than 25 years of academic career, he is one of the world's most highly cited researchers with significant influence across interdisciplinary research fields. Dietmar was also recognised as one of the 10 scientists/bioengineers (and the only non-US academic) who will shape the Biofabrication landscape in 2019. His significant research contributions and international standing are evidenced by his publication record. He has been recognised as a “Highly Cited Researcher” for the last 5 years by Clarivate Analytics. His fundamental and applied research transformed TE&RM and leapt to the forefront of biomaterials science. Prof Hutmacher's research on 3D printing, in combination with the development of novel biomaterials, has yielded not only new insights into tissue engineering mechanisms and new technologies to control them but has also provided a new paradigm for research conducted at the interface of engineering and medicine and specifically regenerative medicine. Comprehensive studies published in > 140 publications on biodegradable scaffolds and additive biomanufacturing provided quantitative analysis to describe the scaffold design requirements with respect to mechanical properties, degradation rate, morphology and surface engineering. These studies have fuelled groundbreaking fundamental and translational advances in the field of SGTR as evidenced by my citation metrics Scaffold design - #2 Worldwide and #1 Asia-Pacific; Additive biomanufacturing - #1 Worldwide (SciVal metrics). Prof Hutmacher's fundamental SGBTE work has been translated into scaffold products, which were used in the surgical treatment of more than 80,000 worldwide. Professor Hutmacher’s pioneering research in biomaterials and tissue engineering ®enerative medicine (TE&RM), specifically on bone scaffold design and fabrication via 3D printing and regeneration of large-volume bone defects via SGBTE, has created a number of new research directions, such as exploration into different materials and different 3d printing technology methods. This work has resulted in thousands of subsequent papers that have trailed his groundbreaking research.