SUBJECT:

Director of UC San Diego Stem Cell Program

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Lawrence S.B. Goldstein, Ph.D., professor in UCSD's Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to the new position of Director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program. A UCSD alumnus, he has been with the UCSD School of Medicine since 1993.

Dr. Goldstein will lead our cross-campus program in stem cell research, one of the most promising fields of research in medical science today.

He has already served a leadership role in national and statewide stem cell policy, and in establishment of both the stem cell program at UCSD and of the newly formed San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, the collaborative research consortium announced by UCSD, The Scripps Research Institute, the Burnham Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies last spring.

Dr. Goldstein was instrumental in our campus being awarded a $1.2 million grant from The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to train the next generation of stem cell researchers, and will be working to integrate stem cell research into the research and educational programs across disciplines at UC San Diego.

To launch this campus-wide effort, I have authorized establishment of a core laboratory located in the Cellular and Molecular Medicine (CMM) building to be shared by stem cell investigators from across the UCSD community. In his role as director of our campus-wide program in stem cell research, Dr. Goldstein will coordinate our efforts across campus to ensure that we attract the best talent possible to work with us on this life-changing research.

He will coordinate the work of the UCSD research team as part of the efforts of the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, to mount a unified effort in stem cell research. This consortium has the potential to be the world's leading stem cell research center by bringing our top engineers, physical scientists, ethicists, physicians, mathematicians, computational scientists, and biologists together in shared multi-institutional and interdisciplinary facilities and programs on the Torrey Pines Mesa.

I know that you share my excitement as we launch the next step of this important research effort under Dr. Goldstein's capable leadership.

Marye Anne Fox Chancellor