Dr. Cherie Stabler is a tenured Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering at the University of Florida. She also is an Affiliate Member of the UF Diabetes Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University in 2004 and conducted her postdoctoral work in the Department of Surgery at Emory University (2004-2006), supported by an individual JDRF Postdoctoral fellowship. Prior to moving to UF in 2015, she was an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami, where she also served as the Director of the Tissue Engineering laboratory at the Diabetes Research Institute (2006-2014). Dr. Stabler has established an internationally recognized research and educational program focused on the generation of translational biomaterial platforms for cellular implants, with a particular emphasis on treating Type 1 diabetes. Her novel bioactive materials are targeted at enhancing islet graft survival and utilizing local and translational approaches to dampen host immunological responses. Her work spans from designing new biomaterials to seeking FDA clearance for implanting combinatory products. Her research has resulted publications across a spectrum of journals, from Biomaterials to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science to Advanced Healthcare Materials, and 5 patents, with research funding from NIH (DP2, R01, UC4, SBIR) and numerous nonprofit agencies (e.g. JDRF, Helmsley). She is an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the recipient of the 2008 NIH NIDDK Type 1 Diabetes Pathfinder DP2 Award, and a UF Term Professor (2019-2022). She is a member of the BTSS NIH study section, the ADA Grant Review Committee, the JDRF Encapsulation Consortia, and the NIH Human Islet Research Network (HIRN). In addition to research, she serves as a strong educator, serving as Associate Chair for Graduate Programs and the primary advisor to over 15 doctoral, 15 masters, and 50 undergraduate students. With a focus on improving parity in representation in the sciences, her mentored students exhibit high diversity (58% female and 35% underrepresented minority). She also serves as the co-Director of the NIH T32 entitled “Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Type 1 Diabetes and Biomedical Engineering”. Her mentees have gone on to tenure-track faculty positions at research I universities, managers at R&D divisions of companies, regulatory consultants, and research directors at nonprofit companies.