Jill Helms

I am a Professor in the Department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine, and my research focuses on understanding why healing slows as we age. We’ve found that many such age-related changes can be traced back to sluggish stem cells, and my group has developed methods to re-activate a patient’s own stem cells for therapeutic intervention in a broad range of conditions affecting bone, cartilage, skin, and hair and beyond.
While conducting clinically relevant research is my main objective, it goes hand-in-hand with another goal: I believe that education is one of the most important tools to improving human health, and I aim to use every avenue available to transform the way people think about science and medicine and emphasize its contribution to our daily lives. One particular passion is introducing young people to the power and beauty of science, through a summer internship on campus (see https://plasticsurgery.stanford.edu/research/stars.html). In my new role as Vice-Chair for Diversity and Inclusion, I also have the great, good fortune to work with exceptional colleagues, students, and community partners to tackle some of the most persistent inequities in healthcare.