Severe burns pose a difficult medical challenge.
Treatments are limited for patients with extensive third-degree burns, and, even in the best of circumstances, long hospital stays are the rule. Working with both cloned cells and bioengineered tissues, Drs. Hewitt and Doolin have created living human skin to serve as an experimental model for burn research. This human-based model not only replaces the use of animals, but can be far superior. As Director of Surgical Research, Dr. Hewitt is investigating mechanisms of how skin is injured, sometimes in combination with infection or reduced immunity, and how transplanted skin rejects.