Michael Francis, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine in the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. With 100+ patents anchoring dozens of bioengineered products that have helped 100,000+ patients & generated ~$500M in revenue, Dr. Francis has built a career in innovating, developing, and commercializing advanced med tech. Previously, as CSO and co-founder of Embody (now Zimmer Biomet in a $275M total deal), he invented and developed the core platform technologies while serving as the PI on $25M+ in grants (DARPA, NIH, Army, AFWERX), built world-class teams, and helped raise $30M+ in investor funding for the medical device implants and biomanufacturing platforms he invented, developed and helped lead through FDA to commercial/clinical use. Over his career, he has worked as a medical and biomedical engineer to reimagine the fields of collagen / extracellular matrix, nanotech, electrospinning, biomaterials, biomanufacturing, biologics, cell and gene therapies to help improve patient outcomes with transformative innovation. He has deep R&D experience in the medical device, biologics, therapeutics, and tissue banking industries, working across orthopedics, spine, diabetes, cardiovascular, sports medicine, and stem cell therapy fields. He has led high performing teams in the R&D, scale-up manufacturing, production, and logistics of 351 biologics, 510(k) devices, surgical tooling, and 361 currently marketed human cell and tissue products (HCT/P), translating high-value technologies into clinical products that have helped heal many people in need. He frequently lectures, mentors, and trains students and also teaches in Biomedical Engineering and Entrepreneurship. In addition, he is actively involved in standards committees (e.g., ASTM, ASME, SCB), has organized multiple regenerative medicine seminar series and biomanufacturing conferences, and serves on multiple academic, for-profit, and non-profit advisory boards. He is an AIMBE fellow, experienced CXO, advisory board member, technologist, blue skies futurist, inventor and investor, passionate about advancing high-value technology and products and enabling fellow academic scientists and engineers flourish in entrepreneurship.