Samuel R. Ward, P.T., Ph.D. is a Professor in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery,Radiology, and Bioengineering at UC San Diego. He is also the interim Vice Dean of Research in the School of Medicine, Vice-Chair of Research and Innovation inOrthopaedic Surgery, Director of the Device Acceleration Center, andDirector of the Muscle Physiology Laboratory.Dr. Ward received his PhD from USC (1999-2003) and moved to UC San Diego for a postdoctoralfellowship (2003-2006). He has served in the roles of Treasurer, FinancialAdvisor, and President for a number of State and National organizations. He is a regularStudy Section Member for NIH (MRS Chair 2022-2024) and DoD, and has served as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for a number of organizations. At UC San Diego, he has served and chaireda number of committees in the School of Medicine and on Main Campus. He is a 2018graduate of the Health Leadership Academy.Dr. Ward is a clinician-scientist and his research program focuses on musculoskeletaldesign and plasticity. He has published 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has beencontinuously funded by the NIH, DoD, and other agencies since he started his facultyappointment in 2006. His scientific accomplishments include defining the structuralfeatures of human skeletal muscle that predict function in the extremities and spine. Thiswork has been extended to understand normal and pathological muscle biology andphysiology in the presence of joint disease. His current focus is on understanding chronicmuscle atrophy and cell death in mature adults, with an emphasis on the use of stem cellsand regenerative medicine approaches to treat these disease processes. His work has led tocareer achievement awards including the Kappa Delta Award from the American Academyof Orthopaedic Surgeons and Marion Williams Award from the American PhysicalTherapy Association. He is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, Fellow of the Orthopedic Research Society, Fellow of American Physical Therapy Association, and a Distinguished Alumn at the University of Southern California and California StateUniversity Long Beach.