Welcome to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

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Leadership

Alan Trounson, President

Alan Trounson, Ph.D., is President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco, California. Prior to joining CIRM in January 2008, Trounson was Professor of Stem Cell Sciences and Director of the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories at Monash University, where he retains the title of Emeritus Professor. Dr. Trounson founded the National Biotechnology Centre of Excellence – ‘Australian Stem Cell Centre’..

Trounson held various positions at Monash University beginning in 1977 and was appointed Director of the Centre for Early Human Development in 1985. He was awarded a Personal Chair in Obstetrics and Gynaecology/Paediatrics in 1991, and in 2003 was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Stem Cell Sciences. A Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Trounson was awarded an honorary doctorate by the faculty of medicine at the University of Brussels.

He has been a pioneer of human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and associated reproductive technologies; the diagnosis of inherited genetic disease in pre-implantation embryos; the discovery and production of human embryonic stem cells and of their ability to be directed into neurones, prostate tissue and respiratory tissue.

ROBERT KLEIN, Chairman, Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee

Bob Klein is president of Klein Financial Corporation, a real estate investment banking consulting company focused on affordable housing finance and development.

Bob served as author of Proposition 71 and as Chairman of the California Proposition 71 committee, the champion sponsor of the “California Stem Cell Research and Cures” ballot initiative, passed in November of 2004 by 59% of the California voters. Time Magazine honored Bob as one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People of the Year” for 2005. Soon after, Scientific American named Bob one of “The Scientific American 50” as a leader shaping the future of science.

Bob has a Bachelor of Arts in History with Honors from Stanford University and a Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School. Additional education includes: Executive Summer Finance Program at Stanford University Business School and an internship with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in Switzerland on Economic Development Policy. Bob is a member of both the California Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Marie Csete, Chief Scientific Officer

Marie Csete joined CIRM as Chief Scientific Officer in 2008. In this role she will support the science team in promoting the translation of stem cell biology to the clinic.

Prior to CIRM, she directed liver transplant anesthesiology teams at UCSF, UCLA, Michigan and Emory University in Atlanta. She has a long-standing clinical and research interest in the care of liver transplant patients. Most recently she was the John E. Steinhaus Professor of Anesthesiology at Emory and started the Emory/GaTech human embryonic stem cell core facility, and co-director of Emory's MD/PhD program. Her lab work was focused on the role of the environment (particularly physiologic gases) in directing stem cell fate. Dr. Csete is a member of the United Network of Organ Sharing Ethics Committee, and serves on several editorial boards.

Marie received an AB in Music from Princeton, MD from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and her PhD in developmental biology from the California Institute of Technology.

CIRM Administrative Documents