Our Work
Advancing regenerative medicine for craniofacial reconstruction.
The Hopewell Foundation for Regenerative Medicine advances regenerative approaches to craniofacial reconstruction by connecting patients, researchers, clinicians, and innovators and helping promising technologies move toward clinical translation.
Craniofacial Regeneration
Rebuilding bone, cartilage, and soft tissue.
Our work supports regenerative approaches across craniofacial reconstruction, including bone, cartilage, airway, and soft tissue, for patients affected by trauma, cancer, congenital conditions, disease, or surgical complications.
Why Hopewell
Reconstruction can replace what is missing. Regeneration could change what is possible.
Every year, patients undergo complex reconstructive procedures to restore anatomy that has been damaged, removed, or lost. Current medicine can accomplish extraordinary things, but there are still tissues we cannot reliably replace.
Hopewell exists to help change that.
Identity
Your face is part of who you are.
It's how the world recognizes you, and how you recognize yourself. When injury, illness, or surgery changes it, nothing about your life stays untouched.
Today's reconstruction can replace what's missing. But a substitute is not the same as a return. Regeneration works differently, rebuilding with your own biology. Its promise isn't a replacement. It's you.
That's why we believe the future of reconstruction isn't rebuilding people. It's restoring them.
Nasal Reconstruction
Where our work began.
Hopewell began with the unmet needs of patients requiring complex nasal reconstruction. That work remains central to our mission, including regenerative approaches to nasal bone, cartilage, airway, and soft tissue.
The Problem
Some problems can't be solved with the tools we have today.
Modern reconstruction can be extraordinary. But when patients have lost or damaged these structures, today's options still reach their limits.
- 01Rib cartilage
- 02Ear cartilage
- 03Septum
- 04Cadaver
"Medicine has come remarkably far. But there are still gaps, and those gaps are where regenerative medicine may offer something fundamentally different."
What patients told us
69%
of patients surveyed reported worsened breathing following their initial nasal reconstruction.
81.8%
of patients surveyed said current reconstructive options do not adequately meet their needs.
90.9%
of patients surveyed expressed interest in regenerative approaches.
These numbers represent people, not statistics.
Based on Hopewell Foundation patient surveys.
A Better Path
A better path forward.
Researchers around the world are developing 3D bioprinted bone and cartilage constructs built from patient CT scan data. The technology exists. The science is advancing. The Hopewell Foundation is working to accelerate the clinical pathway that brings it to patients - through our FDA advocacy, our partnerships with leading research institutions, and our commitment to keeping patient voices at the center of every decision.
No more forehead flaps. No more rib harvesting. No more trading one wound for another.
Katharine Derrey advocating for patients at the FDA
Bone, Cartilage & Airway
Tissue by tissue.
Each structure brings its own challenges. Bone must bear load, cartilage must hold shape, and airway tissue must keep working so patients can breathe.
The Future
A different future for reconstruction.
Across the world, researchers are developing new ways to engineer and regenerate tissues. Hopewell works to help connect those advances with the patients who need them.
01
Bone
Patient-specific structural regeneration.
02
Cartilage
Biological alternatives to harvested tissue.
03
Craniofacial Tissue
Regenerative solutions designed around the individual patient.
The goal isn't simply to rebuild anatomy. It's to help the body become part of the solution.
Research & Translation
From the lab toward clinical care.
Hopewell helps connect promising research with the clinicians, regulatory pathways, and patient input needed to move toward real-world use.
Our Approach
We bring the right people together to move regenerative medicine forward.
01 / 04
Listen
We listen to the patients living with the limitations of today's reconstruction.
02 / 04
Connect
We bring patients together with scientists, clinicians, engineers, innovators, and industry.
03 / 04
Advance
We help support the translation of promising regenerative approaches toward real-world applications.
04 / 04
Change
We work toward a future where regenerative reconstruction becomes a meaningful option for patients.
Regulatory & Patient Advocacy
Patients belong at the table.
We bring patient experience to researchers, clinicians, and regulators, including the FDA, so that lived experience shapes how new treatments are developed.
Our Pillars
Four pillars guide everything we do.
Hopewell stands on four commitments: speaking up for patients, caring for the whole person, rebuilding what injury and surgery take away, and advancing the science of regeneration.
01
Patient Advocacy
Patients deserve a voice in how care, research, and innovation move forward. We carry real patient experiences to the scientists, clinicians, and decision makers building what comes next.
02
Mental Health Awareness
Reconstruction is emotional as well as physical. We bring the mental health side of craniofacial care into the open, so patients feel seen, supported, and never alone.
03
Craniofacial Reconstruction
We support better approaches to complex craniofacial reconstruction, so repair no longer means sacrificing one part of the body to rebuild another.
04
Regenerative Medicine
We advance the research and translation needed to bring regenerative solutions to patients, moving the field toward treatments that restore, not replace.
Collaborations
Working together.
We work alongside patients, scientists, clinicians, institutions, and nonprofits. Meet our scientific advisors on the About page.
Organizations we support
Give
Help build the future of reconstruction.
Your support helps Hopewell bring patients, researchers, clinicians, engineers, and innovators together to advance regenerative approaches to craniofacial reconstruction.
Examples of what gifts help make possible. Donations support Hopewell's overall mission.