What are you currently working on? “My lab works predominantly on wound healing, specifically the molecular factors that influence and regulate wound repair processes. We then use this knowledge to design materials to try to enhance repair. We do everything from animal work through to using human tissue to understand how and why cells decide whether they’re going to make extracellular matrix or not. We have situations where they make too much and situations where they don't make any. We really don't understand that much about why this occurs particularly in humans. We work on many different aspects of repair including culturing cells on materials of varying compliance to see how they respond, because they're very mechanically sensitive and this impacts on the repair process.”
Any future research goals you’d like to share? “My ultimate career goal is to use research to educate students and pass the torch onto the next generation. The students and trainees are the future guardians of research. Our goal is to educate and just try to move the field forward, like increasing our understanding of why people are still having their legs cut off because the skin won't heal. I think by understanding that, hopefully we can change treatment plans. Ultimately, having a
Dr. Doug Hamilton Professor (Cross Appointment with Dentistry) More about his research https://bit.ly/DHamiltonInfo
Contact Info douglas.hamilton@schulich.uwo.ca
(519) 661-2111 Ext. 58194
clinical impact is the goal. If you can get to a point where your research program actually influences something in the clinic, that’s great, but that can also be done in other ways, such as having students in your lab who themselves go on and become clinician scientists. If you don't realize that the trainees are the key focus and should be front and center in dissemination of lab results, you've missed the point of academic research in my opinion.”
“it’s very easy to stay in a comfort zone, but it’s much harder to challenge yourself to try something which you wouldn’t have normally considered.” 18
