Keeping the Promise of Stem Cell Research
With Distinguished Speakers: Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE)
Featured Panelists:
Jeanne Loring, M.D., Principal Investigator at the Burnham Institute and Director of the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Training Course
Steven L. Teitelbaum, M.D., Wilma and
Introduction by:
John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
Moderated by:
Jonathan D. Moreno, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress and the David and
Congress is once again considering legislation to expand the federal policy guiding embryonic stem cell research. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, identical to a bill Congress passed a year ago with broad, bipartisan majorities in both houses, would create an ethical construct for stem cell research conducted through federal funding and provide scientists with access to better and improved stem cell lines that could lead to cures for diseases and injuries that affect millions of Americans. Scientific advances continue to demonstrate the promise of this research, and the American people continue to demonstrate their widespread support for pursuing the research as well.
Please join the Center for American Progress as we present Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE), tireless champions of stem cell research and the authors of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, who will discuss the necessity of supporting this research and the political means to do so. Following their remarks will be a distinguished panel of stem cell researchers who will examine the importance of vigorously pursuing embryonic stem cell research, particularly in light of recent discoveries in stem cell science.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Program: 9:00am to 10:30am
Admission is free.
Breakfast will be served.
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Biographies
Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette is a fourth generation Coloradoan, educated at
As the First District’s Congresswoman, Rep. DeGette has fought to expand her constituents’ access to affordable quality health care. She has also worked to expand mass transit and improve transportation in the
Rep. DeGette received her B.A. magna cum laude from
Mike Castle, a former Deputy Attorney General, state legislator, Lieutenant Governor and two-term Governor of Delaware, is currently serving a record eighth term as Delaware’s lone Member in the House of Representatives. Since coming to Congress in 1993, he has worked to bring the common-sense approach of
Mike Castle has played a key role in enacting many important laws that improve the lives of all Americans, including welfare reform, the balanced budget act, the Crime Bill, No Child Left Behind, vocational education, campaign finance reform, medical research and intelligence reform.
Castle is the ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education which has jurisdiction over pre-school through high school education, including vo-tech education. Some of Castle’s priorities include obesity prevention and child nutrition, Head Start and the recruitment of highly qualified teachers. Additionally, in the coming months, Castle will be a key player in the efforts to reauthorize No Child Left Behind and to examine high school reform.
Mike Castle also serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, which has jurisdiction over banking and the securities and insurance industries. In this capacity, Castle has authored legislation to protect sensitive data to shield consumers from identity theft, is working to ensure the viability of low income housing programs, is examining the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on corporations and is studying ways to help more consumers have access to the credit they need. He is also the sponsor of legislation which would require a study on the hedge fund industry and make recommendations regarding hedge fund disclosure requirements. Among Castle’s other priorities are rail and port security, environmental protection, Amtrak reform, immigration reform, medical and diabetes research, ethics and lobbying reform, reducing the price of prescription drugs, protecting Delaware’s beaches, deficit reduction and implementing his vision to turn the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal into a recreational area for biking, hiking, fishing, and running.
Mike Castle is also a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which he co-founded in 1998 to promote thoughtful leadership in the Republican Party, to serve as a voice for centrist Republicans and to partner with individuals, organizations and institutions that share centrist values. Mike Castle was born and raised in
Chad Cowan received his B.A. and B.S., with honors, from
Dr. Jeanne Loring is a principal investigator at the Burnham Institute and Director of the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Training Course and Co-Director of the institute’s
In the last several years, Loring has also focused on resolving the scientific, ethical, and legal issues that hinder the progress of human embryonic stem cell research. She founded the privately supported Stem Cell Community, a website for sharing information about human embryonic stem cells, and co-founded the Stem Cell Resource, which provides the practical and ethical infrastructure for donations of excess embryos for medical research. She and two non-profit organizations recently challenged the broad stem cell patents owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF); the patents are undergoing re-examination in the U.S. Patent Office.
Steven L. Teitelbaum, M.D., is the Wilma and Roswell Messing Professor of Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine. Teitelbaum’s research focuses on bone cell biology for the purpose of developing new treatments for the prevention and cure of diseases such as osteoporosis. He has served as President of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the largest federation of biological scientists in the world, a position which enabled him to educate legislators and the public about stem cell research. Teitelbaum also served as President of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. He has received numerous awards for his leadership including the most distinguished accolade of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the William F. Neuman Award. In 2004, he received the Second Century Award from Washington University School of Medicine, and in 2006, the Rous-Whipple Award from The American Society for Investigative Pathology.
John Podesta is the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and visiting professor of law at the
From 1997 to 1998 he served as both an Assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff. Earlier, from January 1993 to 1995, he was Assistant to the President, Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy.
Podesta previously held a number of positions on Capitol Hill including: counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas A. Daschle; chief counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee; chief minority counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
John is a graduate of
Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and Professor of Medical Ethics and the History and Sociology of Science at the