Matthew J. Davis, BSN, RN, CWON, CFCN — The Detroit Wound & Ostomy Nurse Who's Now President of AAWC

The Rock Star Bio

Matthew J. Davis is a Detroit-area Certified Wound Ostomy Nurse (CWON), Certified Foot Care Nurse (CFCN) who spent seven years at the bedside at Botsford Hospital before climbing every rung of this industry — WOC nurse, program director, medical science liaison, associate director of medical affairs, senior director of medical affairs — and, as of 2026, President of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) for the 2026-2028 term. He is currently Senior Director of Medical Affairs at Surgenex in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he built the company's medical affairs function from scratch.

Here is the thing about Matt that took me a while to fully appreciate. He is one of the smartest, most humble people I have ever met in this industry. I had multiple meetings with him where he composed himself as if he were just another guy in the room. Fine. Great. Cool.

Then I started going to conferences.

And Matt is on every panel. Every industry summit I show up to, there he is. Then I looked up the AAWC board and realized — of course he is. He is the sitting President of the wound care association. When we're one-on-one, you would never know. He doesn't talk about it. He is not doing the "let me casually mention my last keynote" thing. He is just there. Everywhere. Quietly.

That is a rare combination — high output, low ego. Pay attention to it.

The Origin Story

Matt's foundation is clinical. Long before the medical affairs titles, he was on the floor. His nursing career started at Botsford Hospital in 2003 as a Nurse Tech / ER Tech. He earned his RN there in 2006, and by 2008 he was a Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse — the same role he'd hold for a decade before industry ever called.

He trained where you want a wound and ostomy nurse to train: the R.B. Turnbull Jr. School of Enterostomal Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (2007). His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy — the same institution where he later served as President of the Alumni Council for the College of Health Professions (2007-2012).

His clinical footprint after Botsford:

• Botsford Wound Care Center — Lead Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse (2010-2012)
• Providence Park / Southfield Wound and Hyperbaric Center — Clinical Nurse Manager (2012)
• St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine (Restorix) — Program Director (2012-2014), where he built and managed a team of 7 physicians and 6 support staff, and grew the clinic to the highest volume in the region with >100% average to plan.

That is a nursing career that spent a decade earning the right to have an opinion at the industry level.

What He's Building Right Now

• Senior Director of Medical Affairs, Surgenex (2024-Present) — Matt was recruited to architect and build the company's medical affairs function from inception, at VP-equivalent scope, at a startup-stage tissue-based biologics company that had no prior medical affairs foundation. Full compliance policy development from the ground up, KOL strategy, data generation, sales training, cross-functional alignment. Operates within FDA 21 CFR Part 1271 HCT/P and AATB regulatory frameworks across a placental and amniotic allograft portfolio.
• President, Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) (2026-2028) — the top leadership seat in the wound care professional association. He has been an AAWC Board Member since 2023 and served as Awards Committee Chair before assuming the presidency.
• Published Researcher — co-author on the 2025 evidence consensus paper "Clinical trials for cellular, acellular and matrix-like products (CAMPs)" in the International Journal of Tissue Repair (Serena et al., 2025), and an in-press paper on Processed Amnion Chorion Allograft (EPACA) and Excellion Processed Amnion Allograft (EPAA) characterization aligned with AHRQ standards for chronic lower extremity ulcers.
• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Tissue Repair.

Prior industry roles include Associate Director of Medical Affairs at MIMEDX (2023-2024), where he directed a team of 3 Medical Science Liaisons and led national coordination of 300+ educational programs; Medical Science Liaison at MIMEDX (2021-2022); and multiple roles at Integra LifeSciences (acquired Dermasciences) from 2014-2020, where he was 2018 YoY Tissue Growth 2403% and won multiple President's Club and Regional Excellence recognitions.

Why You Need To Know Him

Because Matt is now the person setting the professional agenda for wound care in the United States. The AAWC Presidency is the top of the association pyramid in this specialty. If you build a wound care company, serve wound care patients, or write policy that touches wound care reimbursement, the AAWC's positions matter — and for 2026-2028, Matt is the person shaping them.

He is also structurally positioned to be one of the most useful humans in the industry: clinical enough to be trusted by clinicians (CWON + CFCN + 20+ years starting at the bedside), industry-savvy enough to move a biologics portfolio (built Surgenex Medical Affairs from zero), and strategy-savvy enough to write a board deck (President's Club sales performance, MSL team leadership, editorial board member of a peer-reviewed journal).

His own résumé line captures it exactly: he is "uniquely positioned at the intersection of clinical credibility, scientific rigor, and commercial execution."

Something He Didn't Tell Me

Matt might be the industry's leading practitioner of the quiet flex. No LinkedIn victory laps. No conference name-drops. Just — the work, the deck, the panel, done. Then back to the next one. I had multiple meetings with him before I put together that he was about to become President of the entire association. That is not a personality trait you can fake.

The other detail I love: his nursing career started with him at 20-something years old as a Nurse Tech at Botsford Hospital in 2003, moving supplies and helping WOC nurses at the bedside. Twenty-plus years later he is running medical affairs at a national biologics company and running AAWC. That is exactly the career arc this industry claims to reward and rarely does. Matt did it — from Nurse Tech to President — on the strength of the work.

The Signature Move

Bedside-to-boardroom fluency. Medical affairs done well is the connective tissue between a clinical study and a clinician's Tuesday morning decision. Matt does it well because he has been on both sides of that connective tissue for two decades — and because he never lost the bedside voice. When he tells a clinical audience what an HCT/P study actually means for patient care, he speaks the language of the person changing the dressing.

The AAWC Presidency is not a plaque on the wall. It is an operational role. Expect the association to move.

How To Work With Him

• LinkedIn: Matthew J. Davis, BSN, RN, CWON, CFCN
• AAWC: Board of Directors — aawconline.org
• Best way in: LinkedIn message referencing a specific clinical or medical affairs topic. AAWC-related outreach through the association.

The Legend Quote

"Multifaceted wound care professional uniquely positioned at the intersection of clinical credibility, scientific rigor, and commercial execution — with national leadership in the wound care community as current President of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care." — Matthew J. Davis, per his own professional summary

Translation: he wrote the sentence himself. It is not marketing copy. It is the job description.

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Matthew J. Davis is an inductee of the Wound Care Hall of Fame, a Medipyxis series honoring the clinicians, operators, and builders who move this industry forward. See also: Jack Schlechtweg, Todd Buster, Hailey Caprara.