The world’s first human embryonic stem cell-based clinical trial has been approved for the treatment of spinal cord injury. Oswald Steward, Director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine and member of the CIRM Governing Board, discusses the pioneering work that led to the clinical trial and Roman Reed gives a personal perspective of spinal cord injury and his patient advocacy work. Reed is president of the Roman Reed Foundation and was the inspiration for California’s Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999. For more info, go to the Spinal Cord Injury Fact Sheet