Shiva Akbarzadeh obtained her PhD from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Melbourne in 2002. She has over 12 years of experience in cell biology and signalling in a variety of systems. In 2009 she established the Skin Bioengineering (formerly Skin Culture) Laboratory at the Victorian Adult Burns Service- Alfred Health, focusing on translational research in skin regeneration. She leads the team responsible for manufacturing Cultured Epithelial Autograft for cellular based therapy of major burns and research in developing novel skin substitutes for clinical application.