Planning Committee

Dr. Kirsner is Chairman and Harvey Blank Professor in the Dr. Phillip Frost Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.  He is Chief of Dermatology at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics and Jackson Memorial Hospital and directs the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center.  Dr. Kirsner received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, his medical degree from the University of Miami and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Miami, after he completed his clinical training.  His clinical training included internal medicine, a clinical and research fellowship in wound healing and dermatology at the University of Miami.  His research interests include Wound Healing and Skin Cancer Epidemiology.  Dr. Kirsner serves on the editorial boards for a number of journals in dermatology and wound healing and serves in national leadership positions in both Wound Healing and Dermatology, including currently serving on the American Academy of Dermatology Board of Directors and Wound Healing Society Board of Directors.  In addition to career development awards, foundation, industry-sponsored funding, and CDC funding, he currently leads or is part of a number of NIH-funded grants.  Independent of books, book chapters and abstracts, he has published over 550 articles.

Dot is a certified Wound and Ostomy Nurse and a Certified Wound Specialist. She is Co-Chair of the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, on the faculty for the Wound Certification Prep Course, and is the secretary of the International Wound Infection Institute She practices clinically at the Saratoga Hospital Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, and is a national and international consultant and educator.

Amanda Estapa, ACNP, CWS, FACCWS, DAPWCA, is the Vice President of Clinical Services for Medcentris, LLC. Amanda earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in 2004. She is a Certified Wound Specialist® and a Diplomat of the American Professional Wound Care Association®. Her experience includes years of trauma and surgical critical care prior to narrowing her practice to focus on her passion for wound medicine in 2010. She has worked throughout the continuum of care in the acute, long term, hyperbaric and outpatient wound care settings and even the home. Amanda’s passion for education on the management of complex wounds and patient advocacy has taken her to both local and national stages as a speaker to help bring awareness to the specialty of wound medicine. 

Erin Fazzari, MPT, CLT-LANA, CWS  received her Masters of Physical Therapy from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia in 2002. She has a well-rounded skill set having worked in a variety of settings including outpatient orthopedics, acute care, skilled nursing, inpatient rehab, and inpatient and outpatient wound management. 
Erin has a passion for the treatment of patients with lymphedema and chronic wounds.  She obtained her certification in lymphedema therapy (CLT) from the Norton School of Lymphatic Therapy in 2008,  her certification in wound management (CWS) from the American Board of Wound Management in 2009 and her National Certification from the Lymphedema Association of North America (CLT-LANA) in 2022.  She is presently with Good Shepherd Penn Partners: Penn Therapy and Fitness (GSPP) in Philadelphia, PA specializing in cancer rehab, lymphedema therapy, and chronic wound management.  
Erin serves as a primary GSPP Women’s Health Residency mentor for physical therapy residents learning lymphedema therapy.  She is also the developer of and primary mentor for GSPP Wound Care for Lymphedema Therapists mentorship program.  In addition, Erin has written for Wound Care Advisor, Wound Care Learning Network, Juzo USA, contributed to the book, Wound Care Made Incredibly Easy- Third Edition and has spoken at national conferences on compression and wound management.
 

Dr. Amanda L. Killeen, DPM is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Killeen earned her medical degree at Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine in Miami, Florida, then completed her residency at the Southern Arizona VA in Tucson before moving to Dallas for a clinical fellowship in Diabetic Limb Salvage under Drs. Lawrence Lavery, Javier La Fontaine, and Paul Kim. She stayed for a second fellowship in research under Dr. Lavery at Clements University Hospital and Parkland Health. She was awarded the Harold L. Johnson Memorial Scholarship by the American Board of Wound Management in 2020. In 2021 she was one of two podiatrists selected for the Focus on Fellows Program by the American Diabetes Association. Her work focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic foot infections, the translation of porcine models of healing to human, the host-microbiome interaction, and the stimulation of angiogenesis.

Originally from Caldwell, New Jersey, Dr. Robert Klein, completed podiatric and surgical training in Chicago at Dr. William Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. He holds an undergraduate degree from Florida Atlantic University in Chemistry.

Dr. Klein continued his education as the Chief Resident at Michigan Health Center in Detroit. Continuing lifelong learning, Dr. Klein completed a Strategic Healthcare Leadership program at Cornell University. Dr. Klein is a Diplomate of both the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery and the American Board of Wound Management. 

Dr. Klein practices wound care, surgery, and amputation prevention full time. He is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine (USCSOM) – Greenville, and serves as the Division Chair of Wound Care for the Prisma Health System. He is the Medical Director for the Vascular Health Alliance Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Oxygen Center in Greenville. Dr. Klein has over 30 years of experience treating difficult to heal wounds. Dr. Klein demonstrates a strong passion and commitment to wound care, hard to heal wounds of the foot, and surgery of the foot. 

Dr. Klein has presented multiple scientific presentations, abstracts, and posters nationally and serves as a peer reviewer on the Editorial Staff of Wounds: A Compendium of Clinical Research and Practice. In his spare time, he swims, bikes, and runs, and serves as a Blue and Gold Officer for the United State Naval Academy (USNA). 

Hadar Lev-Tov is an Associate Professor at the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami Miller school of Medicine. He is a Board-certified dermatologist with significant interest in wound healing and medical dermatology. His work is supported in part by the Dermatology Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and industry.
Dr. Lev-Tov completed his residency in Dermatology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City after completing a research post-doctoral training at UC Davis where he also earned his Master's in clinical research.
Dr. Lev-Tov is the director of the wound healing fellowship at the University of Miami, serves as the Vice President for the HS Foundation board of directors (https://www.hs-foundation.org/), is the founding program chair for the Integrative Dermatology Symposium .

Maritza is a driven Registered Dietitian who is determined to prevent, cure, and improve nutrition-related diseases through evidence-based nutrition practice guidelines. Maritza has years of experience working with an array of populations in different clinical sectors that range from acute care settings, specialty outpatient settings, and community nutrition. She has also developed and directed outpatient programs and owns her own private practice.  

Maritza currently works as a full-time RD for Keck Medicine of the USC Outpatient General Surgery Department. Maritza was granted the opportunity to create for an outpatient nutrition program for Keck Medicine of USC Outpatient General Surgery Department and has successfully built a structural foundation, spearheaded, and directed the program as it continues to grow and evolve. Her nutrition clinic serves the following specialties and pursuits: General Surgery, Upper GI, Thoracic, The Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance+Flow and Toe, Colorectal and Plastics. 

She provides Advance Nutrition Education for following specialty situatons including butnot limited to: Esophagectomy, Gastrectomy, RYN+GB, Fundoplication, Gastroparesis, Colectomy, other GI-related disease, EN and TPN/PPN management, pre-surgery optimization, and post-surgery nutrition management.

Since 2018, Maritza has worked as an Acute and Critical Care Clinical Registered Dietitian for all of Avanti Hospitals in Los Angeles, CA. In addition, Maritza also has her own outpatient private practice, Silver Spoon Elite Nutrition, founded in 2015, where she specializes in Sports Nutrition, preventing/managing nutrition-related diseases, and weight management. 

Maritza’s past professional experience also includes creating and directing a nutrition program for White Memorial Community Health Center (WMCHC). She created bilingual pediatric nutrition classes and nutrition handouts for patients and families and provided one-on-one medical nutrition therapy for preventive nutrition and acute or chronic conditions.

Over the last year, Maritza has been fortunate to co-author an expert consensus and guidance book, Nutrition Interventions in Adults with Diabetic Foot Ulcers, written alongside her MD colleagues in 2021. She has also been a speaker for the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care for Spring 2021 where she spoke about “Targeted Nutrition Therapy to Support Wound Healing” and for Fall 2021 where she expanded on the importance of nutrition in wound care “Nutrition: Heart of Healthcare and Wound Care”.

Linda Montoya is currently the Corporate Wound Consultant for Symphony Care Network.  WOCN Certified for the past 28 years Linda,  has worked in Acute Care, Home Health, Outpatient Wound setting and most recently her passion is Long Term Care.  Over the years Linda has presented regionally and nationally on various wound topics including wound products, compression, NPWT and case studies.  She currently oversees 26 facilities providing education, mentoring, and enhancing the wound care programs.  Her goal in LTC is help the Wound Team excel and provide the best possible care for each of our residents. 

Dr. Pliagas is a board-certified general vascular surgeon. His vascular interests include hybrid techniques to facilitate peripheral revascularizations and endovascular treatment strategies for critical limb ischemia and pedal access.  His three decades of expertise extends across the field of endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair to peripheral endovascular experience, which stems back to 1992 . His first endovascular aneurysm repair was performed in 1999.

Dr. Pliagas earned his medical degree at University of Patras, Greece, and he completed his  general surgery and vascular surgery training at University of Western Ontario, Canada. In 1989, he completed an additional year of vascular training at UWO. 

Throughout his career Dr. Pliagas, has trained fellow colleagues and industry partners and served as course director and faculty member for many institutions in the United States and Europe. He has served as principal investigator for  clinical trials and has authored  publications. In addition, he has presented his work at national and international symposia including VIVA, the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care where he helps organize the peripheral vascular program, AMP,  and the European Endovascular & Interventional Cardiology Conference, and he served as a course co-director  for the 2nd Interventional Cardiology Skills Enhancement.

His commitment and passion for limb salvage  and his ongoing interest in the development of endovascular and hybrid techniques to battle critical limb threatened ischemia has led Dr. Pliagas  to join Advanced Cardiac and Vascular Centers for Amputation Prevention founded in Grand Rapids Michigan by Dr. J. Mustapha and Dr. F. Saab .
 

Dr. Ruotsi is the Medical Director of the Saratoga Hospital Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine in Saratoga Springs, NY.  In this role, he is responsible for outpatient wound care services as well as inpatient wound care consultative services.  He is board certified in Wound Care by the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery, is certified as a Wound Specialist (CWS-P) by the American Board of Wound Management, and is board certified in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He is additionally certified as a Diving Medical Officer (DMO) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is on the Board of Directors of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP). Dr. Ruotsi is a Founding Diplomate and sits on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery and is Co-Chair of the Wound Care Summit for the AMP Amputation Prevention Symposium. He sat on the Board of Directors of the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists and was Chair of its Education Committee from 2013 through 2015.  He is a member of the CLI Global Wound Care Board, the Wound Healing Society (WHS), is a faculty member of the Wound Certification Prep Course, and lectures nationally as well as internationally on topics related to wound care and hyperbaric medicine. Dr. Ruotsi lives in Gansevoort, NY, enjoys boating, flying, fishing, bicycling, skiing, and keeping up with the lives of his three adult children.

Susie Seaman is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Wound Care Nurse (CWCN), and Wound Specialist (CWS). She holds a Master's degree in Nursing from San Diego State University, and a Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the University of California, San Diego. She had been a Certified Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurse for 32 years, practicing in the home health care arena for eight years before moving to the outpatient clinic setting 24 years ago. Ms. Seaman founded the Sharp Grossmont Hospital Wound Healing Center in La Mesa, California in 1998 as an adjunct to their Hyperbaric Oxygen program. She left there in 2006 to open a wound clinic for Sharp Rees-Stealy, a 600+ provider multi-specialty medical group with offices throughout San Diego. She left the wound clinic environment in January 2019 to work for Infectious Disease Consultants in La Jolla, California where she oversaw antibiotic therapy for patients with skin and soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, and other challenging infections. Ms. Seaman is now back in wound care, having started a wound clinic for Family Health Centers of San Diego, one of the nation’s ten largest Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). In this setting, she is honored to support their mission to provide caring, affordable, high quality health care to everyone, with a special commitment to uninsured, low-income and medically underserved persons. Ms. Seaman has been a principal investigator on several research projects involving wound and ostomy care. Her Master’s thesis examined Braden Scale scores and the incidence of pressure ulcers in the home hospice setting. Ms. Seaman speaks nationally on a variety of topics, including chronic wound care, wound assessment, lower extremity wounds, topical therapy, and use of advanced technologies. She has also authored numerous articles and book chapters on both wound and ostomy care. She has a special interest in the treatment of lower extremity ulcers and the diagnosis and treatment of atypical wounds.

Devinder Singh, M.D. is Chief & Program Director of Plastic Surgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Health Systems. He is a Professor of clinical surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He went to Brown University for college, Columbia University for medical school, and Yale for a combined residency in general and plastic surgery. Before moving to Miami, Dr. Singh held faculty appointments at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medicine, and he was the Chief of Plastic Surgery at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

In 2011, Governor Martin O’Malley appointed Dr. Singh to be the only plastic surgeon on the state medical board. In 2014, the Governor promoted Dr. Singh to Chair the state medical board, which is responsible for quality assurance in the practice of medicine. In 2016, the state medical society awarded him the Presidential Award for “exceptional dedication to the physicians and patients of Maryland as Chair of the board of physicians.”

With over 80 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and other publications to his name, Dr. Singh is an expert and national leader in his specialty. His recent publications in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and International Wound Journal cover topics such as the latest techniques for breast reconstruction as well as the benefits of closed incision negative pressure dressings. His research helps improve outcomes for patients, both functionally and aesthetically. His research has been cited over 1000 times. A recent paper on how Flu vaccine may offer protection in COVID19 patients was covered internationally by 850 media outlets, including the BBC and NPR Germany. 

Dr. Singh has given hundreds of lectures and presentations locally, across the country, and internationally. He is a member of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) and American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), where he has led multiple committees including Chair of Legislative Advocacy Committee and Vice Chair of breast implant safety subcommittee on BIA-ALCL. Dr. Singh specializes in breast reconstruction including microvascular surgery. He has used his surgical skills in 15 cleft lip missions to Thailand, Uganda, Eritrea, Vietnam and other countries.