Damien Pearse, Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery; The John M. and Jocelyn H.K. Watkins Distinguished Chair in Cell Therapies, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Dr. Pearse is a Professor at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Pearse is also a Research Health Scientist at the Bruce Carter Miami VA Healthcare System. Dr. Pearse received his undergraduate degree in Biotechnology and doctorate in Neuroscience from Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Miami, Dr. Pearse joined the faculty. Dr. Pearse was an associate in the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Consortium from 2000 to 2006 and in 2005 received the Erica Nader Award for being the Outstanding Investigator in SCI Research from the American Spinal Injury Association. Dr. Pearse is currently The John M. and Jocelyn H.K. Watkins Distinguished Chair in Cell Therapies where his work is focused on the translation of autologous cell therapies for neural repair following spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders.