Longtime ALS patient advocate Diane
Winokur of San Francisco, who has lost two sons to the disease, has
been appointed to the governing board of the $3 billion California
stem cell agency.
Serrano Sewell, who resigned from the 29-member panel earlier this
year after serving since the agency's inception. CIRM has 10 patient advocates
on its board.
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| Diane Winokur Photo -- Legal Momentum |
She sat for five years on the governing board of the national ALS
advocacy group and currently serves on the board for the California
state group, the Golden West chapter. She also served for six years on the board of
trustees for the Sanford- Burnham Institute in La Jolla, which has received $37 million from the stem cell agency. She left Sanford in 2011.
CIRM board to successfully seek approval of an $18 million ALS grant
that was rejected by the agency's reviewers. Researcher Clive
Svendsen of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles appealed the denial to the
full board and was supported in emotional testimony by other patient
advocates as well, including persons with the affliction.(See here for video of some of the testimony.)
million, including the Svendsen grant, for research directly related
to ALS.
West issued a press release Nov. 21, lauding the Winokur appointment
by California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. The release quoted Lucie Bruijn,
chief scientist of The ALS Association, as saying,
"Her
contributions have been invaluable and she will be a tremendous asset
in moving the ALS research field forward through CIRM
funding."
on Winokur's appointment in addition to a press release. CIRM
Chairman J.T. Thomas said,
“Her knowledge, expertise and
leadership will be a tremendous addition to the ICOC (the stem cell
agency governing board) and help guide us in our work.”
Ca., described Winokur in a 2008 blog item as “small, elegant, full
of energy, an exclamation point of a person.”
(Editor's note: Based on information from CIRM and Golden West, an earlier version of this item incorrectly stated that Winokur is a current member of the Sanford-Burnham board.
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