Karli Health · Miami, FL
Regenerative Medicine in Miami
Harvard-trained physician, researcher and published author
The purpose of this overview is to help you understand the treatment categories and their corresponding kinds of therapies. The individual therapy pages provide the deeper clinical details, candidacy information, procedure expectations, safety discussion, and treatment-specific FAQs.
What is Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine is a broad field that uses biologic preparations, cellular therapies, and cell-derived signaling products to support repair and recovery. It includes several different treatment categories rather than one universal procedure. Some therapies are derived from your own blood and bone marrow blood and others are derived from donor tissues.
How Does Karli Health Approach Regenerative Medicine?
Developed through more than two decades of clinical experience, including Dr. Karli’s training at Harvard and work at the Steadman Clinic, he takes a diagnose-first approach to regenerative medicine built around the patient, the evidence, biologic composition, dose, placement and long-term outcomes. This naturally crafted the Karli Standard.
We take a meticulous approach to regenerative medicine. There is a lot we know about these therapies, their applications and their successes, but there is still much we don’t. The Karli Standard starts with knowing the dose, then tracking how that dose relates to the patient’s long-term outcome. As that data continues to build over years, specific dosing becomes more clearly defined and treatment protocols can be refined to support the best possible outcomes.
Each therapy is carefully selected, measured and confirmed. Patient-reported outcomes are tracked and analyzed to refine the approach. Across Karli Health and other U.S. practices using Greyledge technology, the Greyledge Data Cloud has tracked more than 8,000 regenerative treatments as of August 2026, and that number grows every day as new treatments are added. Some patients have been followed for more than two years, and we are still following them. Treatment variables can then be compared with patient-reported outcomes over time to continue refining protocols. Done thousands of times, this continuous cycle of measurement, treatment and outcomes tracking helps advance and define the field.
That’s care that is measured, personal, and fit for you.
Is Regenerative Medicine The Same as Stem Cell Therapy?
No. Stem cell therapy is one phrase patients commonly use, but regenerative medicine is broader. Patients often use “stem cell therapy” as a broad term for regenerative medicine, but the treatments are not all the same.
These are some of the many therapies that fall under the scope of regenerative medicine.
- PRP is platelet-based,
- BMC is a mixed stem cell product that comes from your bone marrow blood that’s full of mesenchymal stem cells and other necessary cells and factors the body uses.
- Umbilical Cord-Derived Cell Therapy is a donor-derived cellular option sourced from Wharton’s jelly within umbilical cord tissue collected after a healthy live birth.
- MUSE mesenchymal stem cells can be isolated from birthing tissue or donor bone marrow.
- Exosomes are acellular extracellular vesicles involved in cell-to-cell signaling. They are not stem cells and are not living cells.
Regenerative medicine is a diverse field that uses varying preparations. It is not a one-kind-of treatment, and the available options are not interchangeable.
Autologous and Allogeneic Therapies
What does autologous mean?
Autologous means the treatment material comes from the same patient who receives it. PRP is made from the patient’s blood, and BMC is made from the patient’s bone marrow.
What does allogeneic mean?
Allogeneic means donor-derived. The cells come from a screened donor rather than from the patient receiving the treatment. Umbilical Cord-Derived Cell Therapy and MUSE Cell Therapy are allogeneic options at Karli Health.
How do PRP, BMC, Umbilical Cord, MUSE Stem Cells, and Exosomes (EVs) differ?
Regenerative medicine is not one single treatment. At Karli Health, different regenerative options may be evaluated based on the patient’s diagnosis, imaging, medical history, goals, safety profile, and physician assessment. We don’t believe in a “one-size fits” all kind of therapy like other facilities do. That is one of the reasons Dr. Karli is well-known and a thought leader. He’s worked for over 20 years to understand the why, why not and whens of stem cells.
Some therapies use the patient’s own blood (PRP) or bone marrow blood (BMC, rich in mesenchymal stem cells and other healing components). Others are donor-derived (Umbilical Cord and MUSE stem cells). Some contain living cells (all above mentioned). Other therapies focus on cell signaling particles that do not contain stem cells (Exosomes). Understanding these differences helps patients make a more informed decision.
PRP Therapy
PRP, or platelet-rich plasma, is made from a patient’s own blood. It contains concentrated platelets, growth factors, proteins, extracellular vesicles, and other signaling molecules that help coordinate and accelerate the body’s natural healing response.
PRP may be evaluated for orthopedic injuries, joint pain, tendon or ligament concerns, hair restoration, regenerative aesthetics, and certain sexual health applications. Dr. Karli has published several studies on the use of different PRP formulations in orthopedic applications like tennis elbow, knee arthritis, to name a few.
Because PRP comes from the patient’s own blood, it is considered an autologous therapy.
Bone Marrow Concentrate — BMC
Bone Marrow Concentrate, or BMC, is made from a patient’s own bone marrow blood. Bone marrow is the body’s richest depot of varying cells and non-cell populations like platelets, growth factors, white blood cells, and repair-related cell populations, including mescenchymal stem cells and other progenitor cell populations.
BMC is a stem cell therapy derived from the patient’s own body (autologous) and is appropriate for many applications, especially for orthopedic or musculoskeletal concerns involving joint degeneration, tendon or ligament injury, spine-related pain, or sports injuries.
One of the many things that separates Dr. Karli from many others in the field is because he has been a critical contributor to the field by developing a technology that several of his colleagues across the United States utilize that collects data on each biologic product utilized to treat varying patients’ orthopedic problems. This unique technology collects data and coorelates it to a dose-response so the field knows what dose works best for which application, i.e., a tendon versus a joint versus a disc in the spine.
Umbilical Cord Cell Therapy
Umbilical cord cell therapy is a donor-derived regenerative medicine option. These cells are typically sourced from Wharton’s jelly that’s inside umbilical cord tissue, or related birthing tissue collected after a healthy live birth.
Umbilical cord derived cells are commonly studied for their ability to release biologic signals that may help support tissue repair communication, immune modulation, and inflammation response.
Unlike PRP and BMC, umbilical cord cell therapy is allogeneic, meaning the cells come from a qualified donor source rather than from the patient’s own body.
While umbilical cord stem cells and other birthing tissue have been used legally in other countries for over a decade, dose-response data in orthopedic applications remains very limited. Now that donor-derived stem cells are legal to use in Florida for varying applications, Dr. Karli, with the help of Greyledge Technologies’ Data Cloud, is actively collecting patient-reported outcomes. This will help define the doses used and refine treatment protocols for specific orthopedic applications, which is essential to responsibly develop the field.
We use this data to counsel and treat patients honestly and fairly. We do not believe in hype. This field has so much promise, and our goal is to protect its legitimacy while pushing the boundaries safely and appropriately.
MUSE Cell Therapy
MUSE cell therapy is also donor-derived, but it is not the same as standard umbilical MSC therapy.
MUSE stands for multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring cells. MUSE cells are a small, specialized subset of mesenchymal stem cell populations being studied for distinct regenerative behavior, including stress tolerance, injury-signal response, self-renewal, multilineage differentiation potential, and repair signaling in damaged tissue environments.
Think of standard umbilical cord MSC therapy as a broader donor-cell option. MUSE stem cell therapy focuses on a more specific cell population selected for unique biological characteristics.
MUSE cells usage and its science is emerging and we’re carefully and actively tracking the necessary dose and those reported outcomes to refine and strengthen our protocols, safely and appropriately.
Exosome Therapy
Exosomes are not stem cells and are not living cells — they are acellular extracellular vesicles released by many different cell types, including platelets and stem cells.
Exosomes act like cell messengers. They carry signaling molecules that may influence cell-to-cell communication, inflammation response, tissue repair signaling, and recovery pathways.
Exosome therapy differs from PRP, BMC, umbilical-cord and MUSE stem cells because it is cell-free. It focuses on signaling particles, the communication, rather than whole-cell therapy.
Why MUSE Cells Are Getting Attention
Which Conditions May be Evaluated?
Karli Health evaluates regenerative therapies for orthopedic, musculoskeletal and pain-related concerns, from injuries to the everyday aches and mobility changes that can come with age. Florida law also permits certain stem cell therapies for orthopedics, wound care and pain management.
How We Determine Candidacy
Karli Health also uses Greyledge Technologies’ AI-assisted research and data analysis to help accelerate scientific review, identify patterns, and pursue answers to the questions patients and physicians are asking. AI supports and speeds up the learning process; it does not replace physician judgment, clinical examination, product verification, informed consent, or individualized treatment decisions.
Safety, Sourcing, and Regulatory Transparency
Regenerative medicine is not one regulatory category. A treatment prepared from a patient’s own blood or bone marrow is different from a manufactured donor-derived cellular product or an exosome product.
Some therapies described on this website are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the uses discussed. The FDA has stated that the only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming cells derived from umbilical cord blood for specified disorders of the blood-forming system.
Florida law permits qualified physicians to perform certain non-FDA-approved stem cell therapies related to orthopedics, wound care, or pain management when the law’s requirements are met. Florida authorization does not mean that a therapy is FDA-approved, and it does not establish that the therapy is safe or effective for a particular patient.
For donor-derived products, Karli Health evaluates factors that may include:
- Donor eligibility and screening
- Product identity and source tissue
- Facility registration, certification, or accreditation
- Manufacturing and quality documentation
- Sterility and contamination testing
- Lot-specific post-thaw viability documentation when applicable
- Transportation, storage, and handling
- Known and potential risks, limitations, and alternatives
- Informed consent and applicable regulatory requirements
No regenerative treatment can guarantee a particular outcome. Patients should understand the knowns, unknowns, potential benefits, risks, limitations, alternatives, and expected financial responsibility before proceeding.
Are Regenerative Medicine Treatments FDA-Approved?
The answer depends on the product and intended use. Some treatments described on this website are not FDA-approved for the uses discussed. Florida’s Stem Cell law that was passed in July, 2025 addresses and allows the use of certain non-FDA-approved stem cell therapies for orthopedics, wound care, and pain management, but state authorization is not FDA approval
Regenerative Medicine in Miami for Local and Traveling Patients
Karli Health is located in Miami, Florida, and welcomes patients from South Florida, throughout the United States, and internationally. The team can help coordinate records, imaging, consultation planning, and visit logistics before treatment decisions are made.
Medically reviewed by David Karli, MD, MBA · Harvard-trained physician, researcher and published author
Last reviewed: September 30, 2026