A wound healing composition comprising an amount of heat shock protein effective to promote wound healing and a method thereof to apply the composition. A preferred heat shock protein is either full-length hsp90α or the middle domain plus the charged sequence of hsp90α. The composition is topically applied to skin wounds, covering the outer surface of the wound. The heat shock protein acts by promoting migration of both human epidermal keratinocyte and dermal fibroblasts to the wound in order to close, heal, and remodel the wound.