NOTE:  Because Professor Charo was called to Washington as a member of the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama, she was not able to be in Madison for this event.

UW Law School Professor Alta Charo, a nationally prominent bioethicist with a speciality in ethical issues involving stem cells, is one of the highlighted speakers in a two-day event, "A Decade Celebrating Stem Cells: Changing the Face of Medicine Ten Years Later," to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, November 18 and 19, 2008, at the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison.

The Wisconsin Academy, along with UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), is hosting the free event to highlight the accomplishments of stem cell research in the state and to examine future stem cell issues.

On the first day, Professor Charo and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle will give opening remarks on Wisconsin’s stem cell industry at 7 p.m., preceding the keynote talk by Professor James Thomson, whose path-breaking discoveries in stem cell production have brought the world’s attention to Wisconsin.

On Wednesday, speakers will include former Governor of Wisconsin and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (prerecorded), WARF managing director Carl Gulbrandsen, University Research Park director Mark Bugher, and keynote speaker Michael West, CEO of BioTime Inc., who will speak on "Opportunities and Challenges of Commercializing Stem Cell Research."

In addition, each day a groundbreaking documentary film on stem cells will be shown at 3 p.m. Producers will introduce their films, "Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita" on Tuesday and "The Accidental Advocate" on Wednesday, and take questions from the audience.

Submitted by on November 12, 2008

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