As a follow-up to my previous post on unproven or even downright dangerous stem cell therapies targeting desperate patients, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) are presenting a public symposium tomorrow night titled "A Dose of Reality on Alternative Stem Cell Treatments: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You."
The forum will be moderated by KQED reporter Rachel Myrow. Among the speakers: Timothy Caulfield, a health-policy expert at the University of Alberta in Canada; stem cell researcher Jeanne Loring, PhD, with the Scripps Research Institute, and Deepak Srivastava, MD, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease. (Loring discusses the growing phenomenon of stem cell tourism in the video above.)
It's from 6 to 7:30 pm tomorrow night at the Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Admission is free and the public is welcome, but an RSVP is requested.
The event will kick off the annual four-day meeting of the ISSCR, which begins Wednesday and brings stem cell researchers from around the world to San Francisco to discuss their latest findings. Although the meeting is not open to the public, I'm betting we'll be hearing lots of stem cell news in the coming week.
Previously: International stem cell group provides website for patients seeking stem cell treatments
Video from CIRM's You Tube channel
