Earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Old Dominion University, Mr. Grooms began a career in tissue banking. Working his way up from procurement to operations, he developed cGMP medical processing and manufacturing systems, as well as other technological innovations. Mr. Grooms held various leadership positions with Virginia Tissue Bank (now LifeNet Health, Inc.), Osteotech, Inc., CryoLife, Inc., and served as Director for the University of Florida Tissue Bank from 1992 to 1995.

A visionary in regenerative medicine, Mr. Grooms took his extensive experience, including research and development, laboratory and manufacturing, and became the founding Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Regeneration Technologies, Inc. from 1998 to 2002. He co-invented the primary value-added technologies that formed the basis of RTIX’s product line of precision-tooled allograft and xenograft implants. RTI became publicly traded on NASDAQ (RTIX) in 2002. Building on his success, Mr. Grooms cofounded a second biomedical startup, Axogen, Inc. providing surgeons allograft products for repairing and regenerating peripheral nerves. Mr. Grooms served as Chief Executive Officer from 2002 to 2010, Chairman of the Board from 2002 to September 2019, and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board. Axogen, Inc. became publicly traded in 2011. Continuing his dream in regenerative medicine, Mr. Grooms co-founded NeXtGen Biologics, Inc. a medical device company specializing in manufacturing extracellular matrix, serving as Chairman of the Board in 2015. In addition, Mr. Grooms is co-founder of Regenx Science, Inc. and has served as Chairman of the Board since 2015.

Reaching a larger audience, Mr. Grooms served as CEO for the Florida Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology from 2012 to 2016. The Institute’s mission identifies, supports, and funds companies commited to commercializing technologies supported by public research funds. Mr. Grooms identified private funding sources, as well as co-created a state public seed fund. The Institute funded 71 University spin-outsduring Mr. Grooms tenure. From FY-2011 through FY-2019, the Institute has contributed a cumulative total of close to $1.9 billion in Total Economic Impact to the State of Florida.