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Patients and Doctors Join Governor Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein at UCLA Today to Call for Passage of Federal Legislation That Bans Cloning but Supports Stem Cell Research

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

Patients and Doctors to Discuss Challenges of Living With Diseases That Could

be Treated or Cured Through Stem Cell Research WHAT: In the first such gathering of its kind since the Proposition 71 campaign, patients and patient advocates representing well over a dozen diseases or ailments will gather at UCLA to speak with media about their experience living with disease, and their continued support for fully funding stem cell research. WHEN: Tuesday, August 23rd at 3:00 p.m. WHERE: UCLA Neuroscience Research Building - main lobby Charles Young Drive Los Angeles, CA 90095 WHO: Joining Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Feinstein will be Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Robert Klein, chair of the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Paul Berg, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate and professor emeritus, Stanford University and Candace Coffee, Devic's Syndrome patient (a form of Multiple Sclerosis), University of California, Los Angeles graduate student and former Miss Bakersfield. WHY: To provide members of the media an opportunity to learn first hand from many brave people who suffer debilitating illnesses and conditions, and discuss how their quality of life may benefit from embryonic stem cell research.

Doctors and Patients Available for Interviews following the Press Conference

Lou Gehrig's Disease (Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis) Diane Winokur and Hugh Winokur Diane watched her youngest son die from ALS in 1997, and is now facing losing her oldest son, Hugh, to this disease. Currently chair of the University of California, San Francisco ALS Center, Diane has become a prominent advocate for ALS patients. Hugh, 47 years old, played varsity volleyball at Yale University. A former CEO of Hanson, Hugh is now confined to a wheelchair but tries to attend his 7 and 15 year-old children's school sports events. Jeannie Fontana, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Fontana is a surrogate member of the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. She is on the Board of Trustees of the ALS Association. Her mother died from ALS. Multiple Sclerosis Mary Hill Hill found out that she had MS on her birthday over 20 years ago. Today she relies on a scooter and her wonderful Canine Companion to get around. Mary participated in an international MS swim from Catalina to Santa Monica and met her life partner when he volunteered to help her train. Spinal Cord Injury Kim Anderson, Ph.D. Dr. Anderson was a senior in high school when an automobile accident left her quadriplegic. In the hospital for 4 months, she still managed to graduate with the rest of her class. After receiving a degree from Texas A&M University, where she was the first student to use a power wheelchair, Kim went on to graduate school to study biomedical sciences. Now an Assistant Professor at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California, Irvine, she performs research to cure Spinal Cord Injury paralysis and is active in bringing the voice of the spinal cord injured community to fellow researchers. Os Steward, Ph.D. Dr. Steward is the Chair and Director of the Reeve, Irvine Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. A researcher and advocate, he represents spinal cord injured patients as a member of the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Autism Jon Shestack Jon Shestack serves as the mental health advocate on the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Jon's oldest son, Dov, was diagnosed with autism before the age of two. Over ten years later, Jon and his wife, Portia, serve as Dov's voice as the founders of Cure Autism Now, a national non-profit dedicated to accelerating biological research in autism.

In addition, also attending will be patients affected by HIV/AIDS, Diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, cancer, and Sickle Cell Anemia.

Media Contact: Todd Flora Office: 323.202.1064 Cell: 310.254.5190 Todd.Flora@edelman.com

PRNewswire -- Aug. 23

Alliance for Stem Cell Research

CONTACT: Todd Flora, +1-323-202-1064, or cell, +1-310-254-5190,Todd.Flora@edelman.com, for Alliance for Stem Cell Research

Source: PRNewswire

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