Contact Name

Jenifer Pilz

Contact Phone

573-202-3025

Contact Email

pilzjs@missouri.edu

TV/Affiliates

KOMU

Speaker(s) Information

 Dr. Jimi Cook  The title of his presentation: "Hand Delivered Hope"

After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and competing for 5 years as a professional waterskier, Dr. James (Jimi) Cook completed his DVM in 1994 and PhD in 1998. In 1999, he founded the Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory at the University of Missouri, a multi-disciplinary team of physicians, veterinarians, engineers, and basic scientists dedicated to translational orthopaedic research, which has now been endowed and moved into its own 12,000 sq ft facility as the Thompson Laboratory for Regenerative Orthopaedics. He has over 400 peer-reviewed publications, over $40 million in research funding, received numerous awards including America’s Best Veterinarian, The Marshall Urist Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society, and was a member of the inaugural CoMO 100 class recognizing those who shaped the city of Columbia, Missouri. He holds 42 patents including the MOPS® technology, and has seen 5 biomedical devices through FDA approval to human clinical trials. He is currently Director of the Mizzou Joint & Limb Preservation Center, Director of The Thompson Laboratory for Regenerative Orthopaedics, and the William and Kathryn Allen Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery, and serves as Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Orthopaedics at the University Hospital’s Missouri Orthopaedic Institute. He is also co-founder of Be The Change Volunteers a NGO dedicated to building schools in remote villages in the developing world whose teams have built 85 educational facilities in 17 countries, providing educational opportunities to more than 10,000 students. His recently published books, Hand Delivered Hope and Ripples of Hope, tell the story of the development of Be The Change Volunteers and the impact it has had for many lives around the world.