Hans Keirstead

Dr. Keirstead is an internationally known stem cell expert and serial entrepreneur that led the development of a treatment that restored movement and sensory function to people with quadriplegic spinal cord injury, and a treatment for cancer that has saved the lives of people with melanoma, brain cancer and ovarian cancer. He has also led therapy development for immune disorders, motor neuron diseases and retinal diseases, as well as a vaccine for COVID-19. He has founded 4 successful biotechnology companies, each returning significant value to investors and treatments to patients. He holds Board positions in several prominent biotechnology companies. He was a full Professor at the University of California, Irvine where he founded, directed and erected a building for the UCI Stem Cell Research Center. He was a founding advisor of the California Stem Cell Initiative that resulted in a $3 billion stem cell fund (CIRM). He has been a long-time advisor to several governments on biomedical policy. Dr. Keirstead received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of British Columbia, Canada, receiving the Cameron Award for outstanding Ph.D. thesis in the country. He received the distinct honor of election as Senate Member of the University of Cambridge and Fellow of the Governing Body of Downing College, and was the youngest member to have been elected to those positions.