Kacey G. Marra, PhD

Dr. Kacey Marra is Professor in the Departments of Plastic Surgery in the School of Medicine (primary) and Bioengineering in the School of Engineering (secondary) at the University of Pittsburgh and is the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Plastic Surgery. After earning her PhD in organic chemistry in 1996 from the University of Pittsburgh, she was a post-doctoral fellow for Elliot Chaikof, MD, PhD, at Emory University in the area of cardiovascular tissue engineering. Following four years as a research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University conducting bone tissue engineering research, Dr. Marra became the Director of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh in 2002. Dr. Marra has a publication record of over 140 peer-reviewed articles in the area of tissue engineering, including a landmark paper that was among the first to examine the effects of adipose stem cells in peripheral nerve gaps. Dr. Marra has presented or co-authored more than 560 abstracts in the area of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Dr. Marra has been Principal Investigator on NIH, NSF, and DoD grants in the area of regenerative medicine, and she also has both industry and foundation support. Her tissue engineering laboratory consists of 20+ members.  Dr. Marra also runs an outreach program for high school students entitled Research Opportunities for High School Students thus exposing young students to tissue engineering at an early age. View a list of Dr. Marra’s publications here.