Dr. Amy Lightner

Amy Lightner is a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, CA and Chief Medical Office of Direct Biologics, LLC a biotechnology company in Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Lightner received her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University, completed her surgical training in General Surgery at University of California at Los Angeles and post-doctoral work at Stanford University under a California Institute of Regenerative Medicine Training Grant focused on the differentiation pathways of embryonic stem cells. After completing her fellowship at Mayo Clinic, she stayed on as surgical faculty, and was the Medical Director for the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Mayo Clinic. She was then recruited to Cleveland Clinic as Associate Professor to focus on complex inflammatory bowel disease, continue her work in translational science and clinical trials, and start a regenerative medicine program. She founded, and was medical director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and continued her basic science research in stem cell therapy. She is the PI of six active phase II clinical trials using mesenchymal stem cells for inflammatory bowel disease, has received extramural funding from the Helmsley Foundation, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, Cure for IBD, Rainin Foundation and American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery (ASCRS). She is a member of the editorial board of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Colorectal Disease, British Journal of Surgery, Crohn’s and Colitis 360, and Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, the surgical co-chair for the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization annual meeting, the associate chair of the inflammatory bowel disease committee of ASCRS, vice chair of the national clinical practice guidelines committee for ASCRS, and chair of the surgical research committee for ASCRS.