Dr. Diana L. Farmer, an internationally renowned fetal surgeon and stem cell scientist, is a Distinguished Professor and Pearl Stamps Stewart Endowed Chair of the UC Davis Department of Surgery, Surgeon-in-Chief of the UC Davis Children’s Hospital, and Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Shriners Hospitals – Northern California. Her lab made the seminal discovery that hindbrain herniation could be ameliorated by prenatal repair in fetal sheep. She is widely known for her role as a Principal Investigator on the $22 million NIH-funded Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS Trial), the results of which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2020, Dr. Farmer received FDA approval for the first-in-human clinical trial of stem cells in fetal surgery for Myelomeningocele, the most severe form of spina bifida. Dr. Farmer has been honored with numerous awards through her career, including being a Luce Scholar, a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, a member of the esteemed National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, past President of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, past Chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, past chair of the Society of Surgical Chairs, founding president of the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery, President-Elect of the American Surgical Association, and currently serves as a Regent of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Farmer has published over 200 manuscripts and 25 book chapters, and has mentored over 50 MD, PhD, and pre-professional students in her lab.