Panitch focuses on the design of biopolymers that improve tissue healing and regeneration. She researches both intracellular and extracellular approaches to direct molecular and cellular processes. Broadly, her goal is to limit scar formation, be it vascular intimal hyperplasia, glial scarring, dermal scarring, fibrocartilage or surgical adhesions, while promoting tissue repair.

She has launched three successful startup companies and was the first faculty entrepreneur-in-residence at Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. She is developing a program for technology innovation around unmet medical needs and co-teaching a biomedical entrepreneurship (BiomedShip) course to PhD and MBA students.

Previous honors have included the NSF Career Award, Purdue Faculty Scholar, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers College of Fellows, and Women and Hi Tech Leading Light Risk-Taker award.

Panitch received bachelor's degrees in biochemistry from Smith College and in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. She completed her PhD in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts –Amherst.