{"id":52154,"date":"2015-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:16:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:16:08","slug":"dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph Vacanti, M.D., UNMC College of Medicine class of 1974, returns to Omaha today to deliver the 28th Annual Latta Lecture, to be held from noon to 1 p.m. at the UNMC Eppley Science Hall Amphitheater.<\/p>\n

He’s returning to share his story — but also to share his passion for research. <\/p>\n

The lecture, entitled “From Omaha to Boston; from Brain Polyribosomes to Tissue Engineering,” will explore Dr. Vacanti’s life in research across 40 years, a journey that began at UNMC and has made him a leader in the field of tissue engineering.<\/p>\n

“I usually weave the story through my eyes,” he said. <\/p>\n

His journey has been an impressive one. An Omaha native, Dr. Vacanti is the John Homans Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, as well as the co-director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine, the director of the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication and the chief of pediatric transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital.<\/p>\n

The starting point, though, was in Omaha, where he went from Creighton Prep to Creighton to UNMC.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always been very grateful to UNMC,” he said. “It gave me all the tools I needed to succeed in Boston.”<\/p>\n

One of those tools was a passion for research that was developed and nurtured by his mentors, John Copenhaver, Ph.D., and M.J. Carver, Ph.D. They were lead authors on Dr. Vacanti’s first published paper<\/a> in 1973.<\/p>\n

“The research for that paper cemented my interest in exploring new things,” he said. “I found it was fun.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Vacanti has held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School since 1974, and reaching out to students is part of the reason he is returning to UNMC for the Latta Lecture. He said he hopes to reach UNMC’s medical students and student researchers with the story of his evolution as a doctor and a researcher.<\/p>\n

“I hope my story will stimulate young people to think outside of the box,” he said. “To not only take care of patients, but to figure out solutions to the challenges facing the medical community today.”<\/p>\n

And he’s also happy to be coming home.<\/p>\n

“Returning to Omaha, I always get a feeling of warmth,” he said. “So much family, a web of relationships.<\/p>\n

“And coming back to the medical center, I am always surprised and pleased at how much it’s grown,” he said. “It’s really remarkable – and it’s fun for me to come back and see it.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":52098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-college-of-medicine","department-unmc-front-page","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","department-vice-chancellor-research"],"yoast_head":"\nDr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-24T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-03T01:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vacanti0317.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-24T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-03T01:16:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/Vacanti0317.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/Vacanti0317.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-24T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-03T01:16:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/Vacanti0317.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/Vacanti0317.jpg\",\"width\":705,\"height\":406},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/unmcedu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/unmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/iamunmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\",\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/author\\\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC","description":"College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC","og_description":"College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2015-03-24T05:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-03T01:16:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":705,"height":406,"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vacanti0317.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Keenan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Keenan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/"},"author":{"name":"John Keenan","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17"},"headline":"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC","datePublished":"2015-03-24T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-03T01:16:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vacanti0317.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/","name":"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vacanti0317.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-24T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-03T01:16:08+00:00","description":"College of Medicine alumnus returns today to deliver the 28th annual Latta Lecture.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vacanti0317.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vacanti0317.jpg","width":705,"height":406},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/24\/dr-vacanti-found-passion-for-research-at-unmc\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dr. Vacanti found passion for research at UNMC"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17","name":"John Keenan","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81487,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52154\/revisions\/81487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}