Joseph Vacanti is Surgeon-in-Chief and Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Mass General Hospital for Children. He is also Director of the Pediatric Transplant Program and co-director of the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Vacanti received his MD from University of Nebraska College of Medicine, after which he trained in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, Pediatric Surgery at Children's Hospital Boston, and Transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Vacanti continues to study the creation of artificial organs using a biodegradable polymer scaffold to develop and shape tissue. He has authored more than 275 reports, more than 65 book chapters, and holds more than 80 patents or patents-pending in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.

For his work in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, Dr. Vacanti received the John Scott Medal, awarded by the City of Philadelphia, and more recently, the prestigious Flance-Karl Award, presented by the American Surgical Association.