In this episode, Hall welcomes Dr. Maria T. Millan, President and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

CIRM is California’s stem cell agency. Its mission is to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs by funding promising research in California.

California’s Stem Cell Agency was created in 2004 when 59% of California voters approved Proposition 71: the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. That initiative created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to fund stem cell research in the state. In addition to creating the agency, Prop 71 created a 29-member governing Board composed of researchers, business leaders, and patient advocates.

CIRM realized that if the goal was to generate new therapies, the first steps would need to be getting scientists into stem cell research, giving them space to work and ensuring that young people were entering the field. That’s why the first awards were dedicated to training young scientists, building new facilities, and pulling California researchers into stem cell science. The agency has also funded research and new facilities and has trained high school, undergraduate, and graduate students for careers in stem cell science.

Some therapies that may come out of CIRM-funded research projects involve transplanting the cells themselves. Others will be drugs that were discovered through modeling diseases in a petri dish. Still, others will be diagnostics that allow doctors to diagnose and treat diseases more effectively—or through technologies that open up whole new fields of research. CIRM funding promotes all areas of stem cell research that show promise to accelerating treatments to patients in need.

Dr. Maria Millan is a physician-scientist who has devoted her career to treating and developing innovative solutions for children and adults with debilitating and life-threatening conditions. 

After receiving her undergraduate degree from Duke University where she first entered the arena of immunology research, she returned to her home in New Jersey where she obtained her M.D. and then went on to complete her surgical training and post-doctoral research in Boston at Harvard Medical School – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  After a transplant surgery fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, she began her academic career with a busy pediatric and adult transplant surgery practice focused on technical advancements and optimization of patient outcomes, including the treatment of rare fatal diseases. 

Please click here to read her full bio.

Dr. Millan tells Hall what excites her in the field of stem cell biology. She advises investors and startups and explains how she sees the industry evolving. She also shares information regarding stem cell research and COVID-19.

You can visit CIRM at www.cirm.ca.gov, and via their LinkedIn page at www.linkedin.com/company/california-institute-for-regenerative-medicine/. 

Dr. Millan can be contacted via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/maria-t-millan-m-d-4438b06/, and via email at mmillan@cirm.ca.gov.   

For a full transcript, please click here.

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Disclaimer:
Hall T Martin is the director of Investor Connect, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the education of investors for early-stage funding. All opinions expressed by Hall and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Investor Connect. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for the basis of investment decisions.