Richard O. C. Oreffo

Richard holds the chair of Musculoskeletal Science, is co-founder and inaugural Director to 2021, of the Centre for Human Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration. He has held positions in USA, AstraZeneca, and University of Oxford before being appointed to a lectureship in 1999 at the University of Southampton. Richard is internationally recognised for his work on skeletal biology and the mechanisms involved in skeletal stem cell differentiation and bone regeneration. Richard’s commitment to interdisciplinary research, funded through over 20 years continuous BBSRC Programme/project grant funding, are exemplified by breakthrough publications on skeletal stem cells and nanotopography, regenerative medicine and epigenetics in osteoarthritis. This has been achieved through harnessing and developing teams of clinicians, engineers, biomedical and life scientists transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries with a holistic approach to generate clinical impact from fundamental bone engineering research. To this end, he has successfully trained 53 PhD/MD students since 2002. Richard manages a significant research grant portfolio, has published over 350 peer-reviewed full papers (H-index 76; >21,350 citations ISI WoS as of March 2023); holds 8 patents and is co-editor of “Epigenetic aspects of Chronic Diseases” Highly Commended in 2012 BMA Medical Book Awards. He serves / has served on a number of Research Council Committees, Industrial committees and international advisory boards and holds a number of visiting professorships in Australasia. He is the Founder of The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation that has raised over £3.4M, enabling disadvantaged Black British students to attend Universities in the UK on full scholarships. He is founder / CSO of Renovos Biologics Limited; is on the editorial boards of five journals, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and in 2015 was awarded a DSc by the University of Oxford. Richard is also a Fellow of International Orthopaedic Research and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.