CIRM Leadership
Jonathan Thomas, PhD, JD, President and CEO
Jonathan Thomas, PhD, JD, is President and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Thomas was previously the Chair of the CIRM governing Board from June 2011 to March 2023. He is a Co-Founding Partner at Saybrook Capital (“Saybrook”), an investment banking and private equity firm based in Santa Monica, California. In his legal career prior to Saybrook, Thomas clerked for White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler in the last year of the Carter Administration and for the Honorable George Mackinnon in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He later practiced at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles.
Long interested in the biological sciences, Thomas majored in Biology and History at Yale, where he graduated summa cum laude. As a George C. Marshall Scholar at Oxford, he then earned a PhD with a medical focus in Commonwealth History. He subsequently returned to Yale for a JD at the Yale Law School. While there, Thomas retained an involvement with biology by teaching courses on the legal implications of genetic engineering and the impact of disease on history.
Thomas has a long-standing commitment to patient advocacy. He spent more than 15 years on the Board of the Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California and served as chair for four years. The organization, now called AbilityFirst, assists children with spinal cord injuries and mental disabilities that could be targets of stem cell therapies. Thomas is an Honorary member of the AbilityFirst Board.
Vito Imbasciani, PhD, MD, Chair, Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC)
Dr. Vito Imbasciani was sworn in as Board Chair of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) on March 28, 2023.
Before joining CIRM, Imbasciani served as the Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) since 2015. As Secretary, he created several new programs within the department, including forging eight independent California veteran homes into a unified system, establishing programs for veterans in state prisons, and supporting the 58 county veteran service offices.
In addition, Imbasciani has been a practicing urologic surgeon for 30 years, treating a mostly older population suffering from congenital and acquired conditions.
Imbasciani completed medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and his surgical and urologic residencies at Yale-New Haven Hospital and the West Haven VA Hospital in Connecticut. At the University of Vermont, he worked in the laboratory, assisting in studies of neurodegenerative diseases.
He earned MA and PhD degrees from Cornell University, and was a Fulbright Scholar to Rome, Italy in 1973. He held academic teaching positions at the University of Florida, Cornell University and Middlebury College in Vermont.
He also served for 27 years as a surgeon in the United States Army Medical Corps, with four wartime deployments that exposed him to battlefield medicine and post-acute care.
Maria Gonzalez Bonneville, Vice Chair, Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC)
Maria Bonneville is the Vice Chair of the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC) at CIRM and has been with the agency since 2011. She works directly with the CIRM Board to advance CIRM’s mission and to lead the development and coordination of Board policies and procedures. She also works with California state legislators and staff members to keep the public up to date on the full scope of CIRM’s activities.
Before joining CIRM, Maria was the Special Assistant to former Treasurer Bill Lockyer at the California State Treasurer’s office, where she represented the Treasurer in state business matters with the state and local government and the business community in the Bay Area. She was also the Northern California Finance Director for the Lockyer Committee and was responsible for fundraising programs for the re-election of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer for Treasurer. Maria also has extensive experience with product development, product marketing, E-commerce, and public relations.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in political sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.
Rafael Aguirre-Sacasa, JD, General Counsel
Rafael has over 25 years of experience in corporate law and joined CIRM after seven years at Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm Corp). There, he provided worldwide commercial, strategic, and transaction legal support for all functions of the NASDAQ-listed life science company.
Prior to this role, he held various management positions and provided legal support for a wide range of commercial, intellectual property, and corporate matters at Teradici Corporation, PMC-Sierra, Inc., Autodesk, Hyperion Solutions, Grupo Financiero, and Xilinx Inc.
Rafael received his bachelor’s degree in history and government from Dartmouth College and a law degree from the University of California-Hastings. As CIRM’s new General Counsel, Rafael will support the President, Board (ICOC), management, and working groups on all legal matters affecting the agency.
Rosa Canet-Avilés, PhD, Chief Science Officer
Rosa Canet-Avilés, PhD, is the Chief Science Officer (CSO) at CIRM, where she oversees all programs and strategies across the Agency. In this role, Rosa ensures the cohesive alignment of CIRM’s strategic objectives, providing high-level management and leadership to guide the integration of Discovery, Preclinical Development, Clinical Development, Patient Outreach/Access, and Infrastructure programs. Prior to this role, Rosa served as the Vice President of Scientific Programs and Education, where she led a team dedicated to identifying the most promising early-stage research in stem cells and regenerative medicine, while also overseeing CIRM’s education program aimed at fostering the next generation of scientists. From 2008 to 2014, she served as a Science Officer at the Agency, where she helped develop CIRM’s Translational Program, managed a diverse portfolio of projects, and organized workshops on diseases such as Parkinson’s and autism. Since joining CIRM, she has been instrumental in ensuring strategic connectivity between CIRM’s clinical networks, data initiatives, registries, and educational programs, with the ultimate goal of translating these efforts into real-world cures.
With nearly two decades of experience, Rosa has held leadership roles across biopharma, government, and nonprofit sectors. She served as the Director of Strategic Alliances at the Eisai Center for Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery (G2D2), where she drove external innovation partnerships and alliances in the neurobiology business unit. Before that, she spent seven years as the Director of Neuroscience Research Partnerships at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), where she led major initiatives like the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) for Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Schizophrenia.
Rosa holds a PhD in neuroscience from the School of Medicine at Leeds University, UK, and a BS in organic chemistry from the Central University of Barcelona.
Abla Creasey, PhD, Executive Strategy Officer⏤Rare Disease
Abla Creasey, PhD, is the Executive Strategy Officer⏤Rare Disease. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing CIRM’s new pilot platform program for rare diseases. She has served as Vice President of Therapeutics Development, where she was instrumental in building and managing CIRM’s clinical portfolio of diverse therapeutic areas, including oncology, neurology, ophthalmology, and others. She led the CIRM Therapeutics Development Team for the past six years, delivering on key strategic goals to identify, recruit, develop and manage to success 109 innovative clinical-stage projects and manage them to success. Twelve of the 128 FDA projects granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapies (RMAT) Designation are among the CIRM Therapeutics grants portfolio.
Abla has extensive experience in research and development, including clinical trial strategy and operations, as well as biologics process development & manufacturing, regulatory, and overall strategic product development. Prior to joining CIRM in 2016, she was at Johnson & Johnson for 12 years. While there, Abla held multiple senior-level positions, including Senior Scientific Director in Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing Sciences (PDMS) at Janssen Therapeutics. Prior to that, she was an Executive Director, heading drug delivery, pharmacology, analytical characterization, clinical & quality at Advanced Technologies & Regenerative Medicine (ATRM), another J&J company. Prior to ATRM, Abla was Vice President of Biological Sciences at ALZA Corporation, where she headed discovery efforts in formulation, preclinical, and oral drug delivery. Before joining ALZA in 2004, Abla held senior level positions in R&D, clinical development, and regulatory affairs within the biotechnology industry, including Chiron Corporation and Cetus Corporation.
Abla was awarded in 2008 the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her biotechnology contributions. She served on the Mills College Board, Oakland, CA, and the Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Advisory Board. She has 23 patents and authored over 50 publications. Abla received a BS in biology from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California, and her PhD in medical microbiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine in infectious disease, biochemistry, and immunology.
Geoffrey Lomax, DrPH, Associate Director of Patient Access Team
Dr. Geoffrey Lomax joined the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2005. He is the Associate Director for CIRM’s Patient Access Team. The team manages CIRM’s Clinical Infrastructure Programs designed to accelerate the delivery of treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. Programs include CIRM’s Alpha Clinics Network, Community Care Centers of Excellence, and Patient Support Program. CIRM’s Clinical Infrastructure provides a platform to deliver high-quality FDA-authorized regenerative medicine (cell- and gene-therapy) clinical trials. In addition, the team coordinates CIRM’s Access and Affordability and Medical and Ethical Standards Working Groups. These working groups are dedicated to providing access to CIRM-funded treatments under the highest medical standards.
Dr. Lomax formerly served as the Research Director with the California Environmental Health Investigations Branch to publish and implement a strategic plan for the development of an Environmental Health Surveillance System in California. Throughout his professional career, Dr. Lomax has continually worked to bridge issues of scientific, policy, and ethics in the development of state-based public health programs and research.
Jennifer Mielnicki Lewis, Vice President of Operations
Jennifer Lewis is the Vice President of Operations at CIRM leading the Grants Management, Finance, and Information Technology functions for the agency. In this role, she provides strategic operational and policy direction, ensures awardee funding is monitored and in compliance with appropriate regulations, identifies opportunities to streamline processes and enhance portfolio reporting, and oversees technology solutions to enable CIRM operations to work in a collaborative and fast-paced environment.
Jennifer joined the grants management team at CIRM in 2016 and, during that time, has contributed to the rigorous grantmaking engine through portfolio oversight and management, implementing electronic grant records, database improvements, and operationalizing the grantmaking of funding partnerships. In addition, during the wind-down of Proposition 71, Jennifer oversaw the administrative and research budgets, ensuring that CIRM could make the most impact with the remaining funds.
Before joining CIRM, Jennifer was a senior member of the program team at the Stuart Foundation, where she made funding recommendations, created grantee communications, and developed system and process enhancements. Jennifer’s experience has focused on operational roles spanning the philanthropic, nonprofit, private, and government sectors. She also has experience in organizational development, project management, and financial analysis.
Jennifer received a Bachelor of Hospitality Administration from Boston University and holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Shyam Patel, PhD, Associate Vice President of Preclinical Development
Shyam Patel, PhD, is the Associate Vice President of Preclinical Development. Shyam is responsible for bridging the gap between research and clinical application by supporting key preclinical programs and infrastructure initiatives. During his time at CIRM, Shyam led business development that included the expansion of CIRM’s Industry Alliance Program to establish a collaborative network of venture investors, biotech companies, large biopharma partners, and resource providers to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine therapies. Shyam was also responsible for the establishment of CIRM’s Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Network, launch of CIRM’s Patient Support Program, coordination of CIRM’s 2022 Strategic Plan, and management of CIRM’s partnerships with NHLBI on Cure Sickle Cell Initiative and FNIH on AMP Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium.
Shyam joined CIRM in late 2016, initially as part of Dr. Sambrano’s Portfolio Development & Review team, where he managed the review and approval processes for CIRM’s Discovery, Translational, and Clinical Programs. Prior to CIRM, Shyam led NanoNerve, Inc., where he and the team developed tissue-engineered medical devices for tissue regeneration. He was also on the teaching faculty in Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in biomaterials, stem cells and tissue engineering, and medical device development.
Shyam received a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in Bioengineering from the Universities of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco.
Gil Sambrano, PhD, Vice President of Portfolio Development and Review
Gil is the Vice President of Portfolio Development and Review and leads the team responsible for selecting the highest-quality stem cell-based projects for CIRM funding, from Discovery to Clinical programs. His team builds and cultivates a world-class team of expert reviewers and directs a rigorous review process through the governing board-appointed Grants Working Group (GWG).
Gil joined CIRM in 2005 as the first Scientific Officer. During his tenure, Gil has contributed to building the vision of CIRM by leading and advancing the scientific review process, constructing grants administration policies, guiding the early development of the Grants Management System, and managing the training grant programs. He has been a key point of contact to help applicants and grantees identify appropriate partnering opportunities and navigate the CIRM solicitation and application process. He leads the conduct of GWG review meetings and has been the primary liaison with patient advocates and scientific members of the GWG.
Prior to CIRM, he was an assistant professor in the department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at UCSF. In 2001, Gil took on a notable position to coordinate efforts of the Alliance for Cellular Signaling, a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary consortium of scientists led by the Nobel Laureate, Alfred G. Gilman, whose goal is to understand the basic principles that regulate signal transduction in cells.
His scientific education includes a BS in biology from the University of Texas at El Paso and a PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of California, San Diego. Gil trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California San Francisco.
Koren Temple-Perry, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
Koren joins CIRM after spending the last 15 years translating complex scientific information into compelling content for diverse audiences. As a former journalist, she has worked extensively in the areas of patient and community health education, health advocacy, and scientific communications for hospitals, research institutes, and healthcare organizations.
Prior to joining CIRM, she founded Temple Communications LLC, which specializes in scientific copywriting and marketing communications for public health organizations. She served as consulting communications director for March for Science, where she led the media and communications campaign for the global marches. She spent many years as a communications writer and digital marketing manager at academic medical centers throughout New York.
Koren earned her master’s degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Santa Clara University. Her passion for improving health equity led to her appointment as District 5 Commissioner to the Alameda County Public Health Commission and to the Board of Directors for Jamal’s Helping Hands, a non-profit dedicated to helping families of color navigate rare diseases.