Introduction

The Oxford-European Summer School on Wound Healing has been held regularly since 1990. It has attracted participants from throughout Europe and North America. These courses have proved to be very successful due to the quality of the Faculty as well as the enthusiasm of the participants. A number of the Faculty have been with the course since its inception. The theme of the 2001 course was 'Applying Wound Healing Research to Clinical Practice'. We have published this book in order to make available the presentations made at this meeting because we believe that their content and quality was of a high standard, and well received by the delegates. We hope, therefore, that this book will serve as a useful source of reference for those working in the field of wound healing.

Oxford has a long history of both basic and clinical research in tissue repair as well as innovations in practical wound healing. The Radcliffe Infirmary (see page 4) was founded in 1769 and is where penicillin was first used clinically in 1941 in the treatment of a patient with a septic wound, and on further patients in the first clinical trial of this important antibiotic. Prior to that time the drug was developed in the Dunn School of Pathology at the University, by Lord Florey and his colleagues.

Today, Oxford is still one of the leading wound healing centres in the UK and Europe, with its aim of assessing new therapies in management regimens for wound healing. The Oxford-European Summer School has allowed us to bring together experts in this field and we feel their chapters in this book will add to the knowledge of wound healing.

Lastly, the Oxford Wound Healing Course would not have been possible without the education grant which ConvaTec has donated for this event since its beginning in 1990, and particularly through the support of Geoff Morris, Senior Vice President in Princeton, New Jersey, who encouraged us to start this endeavour.

Dr George W Cherry
Chairman, Wound Healing Institute
Department of Dermatology
The Churchill Hospital, Old Road
Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LJ, England