AVITA Medical Founder Fiona Wood Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award by American Burn Association

By AVITA Medical | April 15, 2026, 9:20 AM
  • Recognition highlights pioneering contributions to modern burn care including development of RECELL® Spray-On Skin™

VALENCIA, Calif., April 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AVITA Medical®, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCEL, ASX: AVH), a leading therapeutic acute wound care company, today announced that its founder, Professor Fiona Wood, has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Burn Association (ABA). The award, the ABA’s highest honor, recognizes individuals whose enduring contributions have advanced burn care, research, and education. Professor Wood was presented with the award during a ceremony at the ABA 2026 Annual Meeting.

“Professor Wood not only has a remarkable legacy of achievement but also personifies the finest values of the ABA,” said Jeffrey Carter, MD, FABA, President of the American Burn Association. “Her work has transformed the way we think about burn care, demonstrating what is possible when innovation is driven by purpose. Fiona’s impact will be felt for generations of patients and clinicians, and we are proud to recognize her as one of the leaders who has shaped modern burn care.”

“More than 30 years ago, I set out to challenge the limitations of how we treat burn injuries and to find better ways to help patients heal,” said Professor Wood. “While we have made meaningful progress, there is still more to do. It is incredibly rewarding to see the continued advancements led by the global burn community, and I remain inspired by what we can achieve together for our patients.”

“Professor Wood’s contributions have fundamentally shaped modern burn care and continue to influence clinical practice around the world,” said Cary Vance, Interim Chief Executive Officer of AVITA Medical. “Her pioneering work laid the foundation for technologies like RECELL and established a new approach to wound healing. This recognition by the ABA reflects an extraordinary career and a lasting legacy that continues to guide our Company mission today.”

A Legacy of Innovation and Enduring Impact

Professor Wood is internationally recognized for pioneering innovations that have transformed the treatment of burn injuries. Her work led to the development of a method to process a patient’s own skin cells into a spray-on suspension – now commercialized as RECELL – enabling new approaches to wound closure while reducing donor skin requirements and improving patient outcomes.

In 1993, she established the company that would later become AVITA Medical to advance the clinical application of this technology. Her work gained global recognition in 2002, when she led the treatment of patients following the Bali bombings at Royal Perth Hospital, demonstrating the potential of spray-on skin to support rapid wound closure in critically injured patients.

Professor Wood’s career spans more than three decades of leadership in burn care, research, and surgical innovation. She currently serves as Director of the Burns Service of Western Australia and Director of the Burn Injury Research Unit at the University of Western Australia, where she continues to lead clinical care, research, and innovation.

In addition to the ABA Lifetime Achievement Award, she has received numerous honors, including Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and Australian of the Year (2005). Her work has contributed to hundreds of scientific publications and has influenced burn care practices globally.

About the American Burn Association

The American Burn Association (ABA) is dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by burn injuries through advocacy, education, research, and prevention. Founded in 1967, the ABA supports burn care professionals and organizations and works to advance the quality of burn care worldwide. For more information, visit ameriburn.org

About AVITA Medical, Inc.

AVITA Medical® is a leading therapeutic acute wound care company delivering transformative solutions. Our technologies are designed to optimize wound healing, effectively accelerating the time to patient recovery. At the forefront of our platform is RECELL®, approved by the FDA for the treatment of thermal burn and trauma wounds. RECELL harnesses the healing properties of a patient’s own skin to create Spray-On Skin™, offering an innovative solution for improved clinical outcomes at the point-of-care. In the U.S., AVITA Medical also holds the exclusive rights to market, sell, and distribute Cohealyx®, an AVITA Medical-branded collagen-based dermal matrix, and the exclusive rights to manufacture, market, sell, and distribute PermeaDerm®, a biosynthetic wound matrix.

In international markets, RECELL is approved to promote skin healing in a wide range of applications, including thermal burn and trauma wounds. RECELL and RECELL GO® are CE-marked in Europe; RECELL is TGA-registered in Australia and PMDA-approved in Japan.

To learn more, visit www.avitamedical.com.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that may influence or contribute to the inaccuracy of the forward-looking statements or cause actual results to differ materially from expected or desired results may include, without limitation: uncertainties associated with our expectations regarding future revenue or gross and/or operating margins; the ability to achieve or sustain profitability; industry market conditions (including competition, and market reaction to growth or product initiatives); failure to obtain, maintain or enforce our intellectual property rights; failure to obtain and/or maintain regulatory approvals; the conduct or outcome of pre-clinical or clinical studies; our ability to maintain partnerships; our ability to manage consulting, operational, financial, and capital projects and/or initiatives; our ability to obtain and maintain favorable coverage and reimbursement determinations from third party payors; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; market penetration of our products (including the ability to continue to scale our manufacturing operations to meet the demand for our products); solvency; changes to tax and interest rates; inflationary pressures on the U.S. and global economies; changes in the legal or regulatory environments; the impact of a cybersecurity breach, terrorist attack or other geopolitical instability; and the impact of a pandemic or epidemic, or natural disaster. Any forward-looking statements made herein are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these statements, except as required by law. For additional information and other important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, please see the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and other publicly available filings for a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

Investor & Media Contact:
Ben Atkins
Phone +1-805 341 1571
investor@avitamedical.com | media@avitamedical.com

Authorized for release by the Chief Financial Officer of AVITA Medical, Inc.

©2026 AVITA Medical. AVITA Medical®, Cohealyx®, RECELL®, RECELL GO®, and Spray-On Skin™ are trademarks of AVITA Medical. PermeaDerm® is a registered trademark owned by Stedical Scientific, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.


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