Melanie Urbanchek

Melanie G. Urbanchek, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Plastic Surgery

Biography

Melanie G Urbanchek, Ph.D. serves as an Assistant Research Professor in the Surgery Department at the University Michigan School of Medicine.

Dr. Urbanchek received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. She received a M.S. degree from California State University, Fullerton in Fullerton CA, and her B.S. degree from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Dr. Urbanchek been affiliated with the University of Michigan for 20 years. Before moving to Ann Arbor, Dr. Urbanchek was affiliated with the University of California-Irvine Medical Center.

Dr. Urbanchek is an active member of several national specialty societies including the American Society of Peripheral Nerve, Plastic Surgery Research Council, American College for Sports Medicine, and Sigma Xi scientific honorary society.. She has authored numerous scientific journal articles and has presented her work nationally. Her achievements include being the Program Manager and Co-Principal Investigator on numerous nationally or University of Michigan funded grants. She is recognized for the quality research education she has provided to many academic clinicians, basic scientists, and students. She is a skilled mentor and a valued resource for surgery research.

Dr. Urbanchek has an active laboratory research effort which focuses on muscle and nerve physiology relative to medicine. She currently has active projects aimed at the development of a living peripheral nerve interface, peripheral nerve repair, skeletal muscle reinnervation, and myocyte implantation. She is a co-investigator on several active research grants and has received numerous forms of recognition for her outstanding research.

Dr. Urbanchek is currently collaborating with Drs. Paul Cederna (Plastic Surgery), David Martin (Materials Science & Engineering), Daryl Kipke (Neural Engineering), and Steve Goldstein (Orthopaedics), at the University of Michigan to examine "Bio-Integrating Structural and Neural Prosthetic Materials". The goals of these studies study are to interface the Deka arm prosthesis with biotic/abiotic interfaces especially the using peripheral nerve for motor control and sensation functions.

Dr. Urbanchek is also collaborating with Dr. Michael Franz from the University of Michigan as he examines chronic wound failure phenotype. Dr. Urbanchek is a faculty member actively mentoring trainees as part of the Section of Plastic Surgery's NIH Training Grant, Dr. Cynthia Marcelo, PI.