Speaker: Dr. James Battey, Jr. MD, PhD
February 2005 Health Care Leadership Forum

Dr. Battey talked about the promise of stem cell research for simply transplanting cells in leukemia patients who currently need to undergo invasive bone marrow transplants. He discussed the possibility of stem cell transplantation in the nerve cells of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients. He also talked about the limitless possibilities for people with heart disease and diabetes.

The immediate challenges for the NIH and the human embryonic stem cell research include:

• Generating and characterizing distribution quality human embryonic stem cell lines from the NIH registry;
• Stimulating more research on basic biology;
• Training investigators to culture and use stem cells.

Dr. Battey indicated that funding is not the primary challenge for research at this time. Instead, he stressed that many more scientists need to become involved in working with stem cells. He challenged the assembled health leaders of Battle Creek to encourage the next generation of researchers and health professionals to work in this important field. Dr. Battey estimated that it will be about ten years before any practical treatments emerge from the current, ongoing research with stem cells.

For more information on stem cells, visit http://stemcells.nih.gov.

For more information about the human embryonic stem cell registry, visit http://escr.nih.gov.

Dr. James Battey, Jr.

Click here to watch the VIDEO of the presentation.