Dr. Wagner received his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1991, and joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh later that same year. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, he was a research associate in the chemical engineering department at the University of Texas investigating transport processes in thrombosis.
He has served as a consultant to several medical device companies in the areas of biomaterials and biocompatibility, and was a panel member for the evaluation of tissue engineering research in Europe for the International Technology Research Institute. He has organized several symposia on biomaterials-related topics and has taught courses in Pitt’s bioengineering department on biomaterials and tissue engineering topics.
Dr. Wagner is a member of numerous professional and scientific societies, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineering, the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the International Tissue Engineering Society. He is a fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.
While at the University of Pittsburgh, he has researched and participated in the development of ventricular assist systems, membrane oxygenators and tissue-engineered lungs. As a result, Dr. Wagner has written more than 50 published articles on the subjects of biomaterials, biocompatibility, tissue engineering, thrombosis and medical device analysis. His work also has led to several patent applications in these fields.
In addition to his other duties, he has been named chairman of the 2003 Gordon Conference on Biomaterials. He is on the membership committee for the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs and serves as chairman for the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative’s seed grant review panel.