Dr. Amy L. Lightner is a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, CA and Chief Medical Officer of Direct Biologics, LLC a biotechnology company in Regenerative Medicine and Chief Medical Officer of Boomerang Medical in Fogarty Innovations. 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 in stem cell biology. After completing her colorectal fellowship at Mayo Clinic, she became Associate Professor and was the Medical Director for the Center for Regenerative Medicine. She was later recruited to Cleveland Clinic to focus on complex inflammatory bowel disease, continue her work in translational science and clinical trials, and found the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Surgery. 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 surgical meeting, member of the inflammatory bowel disease committee of ASCRS and Vice Chair of the national clinical practice guidelines committee for ASCRS.