World Stem Cell Summit Tomorrow!
By Don C. Reed
Tomorrow morning, I will watch the sunrise from mid-air, as the amazement of flight lifts me from San Francisco and tosses me all the way to Atlanta, Georgia, for the 2015 edition of the World Stem Cell Summit!
The words from that old song, “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it!”, keep running through my mind. Don’t worry, I won’t sing, my grand-daughter Katherine (the Great) has cautioned me strenuously against inflicting my voice on harmless passers-by.
But I will be speaking about four times at the upcoming summit: at an awards banquet tomorrow night, a Saturday panel on patient advocacy, a Thursday event about the Americans for Cures Foundation (which sprang from the campaign to pass Proposition 71, California’s $6 billion stem cell program), and another speaking spot at a lunch—totally cool. I am never happier than when talking about the prospects for stem cell research and cures. If you were stuck with me on an elevator for more than a couple floors, I guarantee we would be talking stem cells!
I hope you are going to be at the Summit—every year, I look around at whatever magnificent venue our host Bernie Siegel has arranged, and I think, it just can’t get any better than this—but every year, it does!
But if you can’t make it, hopefully Bernie will do what he has done in the past, and post the key speakers on line so you can enjoy it—free!
The World Stem Cell Summit is a feast of science and inspiration!
Okay, who are the key players necessary to bring about cure for chronic disease and disability?
Would you say, scientists, business entrepreneurs, and government officials? Good choices, but I would add one more—the person who brings everything together—the patient advocate.
Studies have been done, asking who is most trusted in speaking for medical research. Scientists, doctors, business-folk and celebrities—all are valuable, of course!
But the most trusted individuals were the patient advocates, perhaps because it is so easy to guess our motivation. I want my paralyzed son Roman to walk again; Bob Klein wants his son Jordan cured of diabetes. Everyone with a loved one suffering wants them cured. That’s only natural!
And tomorrow, we gather in our hundreds: advocates, researchers, biomed folks, so many we cannot possibly meet them all—but I intend to try, swapping business cards and making friend to stay in touch with over the years, especially when there is a stem cell battle we need to fight—and there are some good ones coming up, I guarantee it.
Stay in touch!
Don C. Reed is the author of “STEM CELL BATTLES: Proposition 71 and Beyond: How Ordinary People Can Fight Back Against the Crushing Burden of Chronic Disease—with a Posthumous Foreword by Christopher Reeve”.
Available for pre-order at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/Stem-Cell-Battles-Proposition-Christopher/dp/9814618276
