Dr. Patricia Hebda specializes in Pediatric Otolaryngology and is the Director of the ENT Wound Healing Research Program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Additionally, she is an Associate Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the hospital and an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh. As a faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Hebda is also actively involved in research efforts at the University.
Dr. Hebda has also served as a Research Consultant for a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the area of wound healing. She has served as a Journal Reviewer for numerous scientific publications and as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Wound Healing Society. Previously, she has been a member of the Editorial Board for the journal Wounds: A Compendium of Clinical and a Research and Practice Section Editor for Biochemistry of Healing. Currently, she stands as a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Cell Biology, Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Society for Investigative Dermatology, Tissue Engineering Society (International) and the Wound Healing Society. In addition to her duties at the University, Dr. Hebda serves as a member of the Publications Committee for the Wound Healing Society.
Dr. Hebda holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University and received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Ohio State University in 1978. Prior to arriving at the University, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genects, at the University of California Los Angeles-Harbor Medical Center. Dr. Hebda first arrived at the University of Pittsburgh as a Research Associate of Ophthalmology within the school of Medicince in 1980. Shortly after, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Dermatology, and was also Associate Professor of Dermatology before reaching her current position.
While in the department of dermatology, Dr. Hebda's research focused on biological mediators of cutaneous wound healing. During that time, she evaluated the effects of exogenous growth factors on epidermal wound healing in experimental wounds in pigs and in acute and chronic wounds in humans. She also studied the role of endogenous transforming growth factor-beta in the epidermal wound healing response. Joining the department of otolaryngology enabled Dr. Hebda to expand her research focus into other areas of wound healing.
Currently, as Director of the ENT Wound Healing Research Program, Dr. Hebda is working in close collaboration with other faculty members of Pediatric Otolaryngology, notably Joseph E. Dohar, M.D., to establish a multifaceted program encompassing preclinical and clinical projects. The fundamental purpose is to develop new, biologically driven therapeutic modalities to promote and optimize wound healing and tissue regeneration of the upper aerodigestive system. To achieve this goal researchers have ongoing projects based on:
- "scarless" fetal wound healing
- cell therapy and tissue engineering
- animal and tissue culture model systems
Another component of Dr. Hebda's research involves characterization of the fibrotic fibroblast phenotype as exhibited in connective tissue scar, keloidsand hypertrophic scars. She is pursuing this study of cutaneous fibrosis as a basis for understanding fibrotic wound healing in mucosal tissue (e.g. subglottic stenosis) and as a contrast to the "scarless" regenerative healing of fetal connective tissue of skin and airway mucosa.
Recently, Dr. Hebda has been featured in several publications for her research concerning Tissue engineering applications in otolaryngology. She is currently exploring injury, inflammation, healing and scarring associated with clinical problems such as airway stensosis, otitis media and sinusitis. Additionally, she is applying cell and tissue engineering approaches to promote and improve wound healing in the head and neck. Through such programs, Dr. Hebda is developing , animal models of wound healing in the skin and upper airway mucosa as well as new biologically-based treatments for acute and chronic wounds.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Dr. Patricia Hebda
Phone: (412) 692-6217
Email: patricia.hebda@chp.edu