CIRM welcomes two additions to its leadership team
Left to right: Rafael Aguirre-Sacasa, General Counsel and Koren Temple-Perry, Senior Director of Marketing Communications
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) continues to build its world class team to deliver the full potential of regenerative medicine to the people of California and around the world.
CIRM is pleased to welcome two new members to its leadership team, including Rafael Aguirre-Sacasa as General Counsel and Koren Temple-Perry as Senior Director of Marketing & Communications.
Rafael has over 25 years of experience in corporate law and joins CIRM after seven years at Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm Corp). There, he provided worldwide commercial, strategic and transactional legal support for all functions of the NASDAQ-listed life science company.
Prior to this role, he held a variety of management positions and provided legal support for a wide range of commercial, intellectual property and corporate matters at Teradici Corporation, PMC-Sierra, Inc., Autodesk, Hyperion solutions, Grupo Financiero and Xilinx Inc.
Rafael received his bachelor’s degree in history and government from Dartmouth College and law degree from the University of California-Hastings. As CIRM’s new General Counsel, Rafael will support the President, Board (ICOC), management and working groups on all legal matters affecting the agency.
“Joining the Institute as General Counsel is not just a job to me,” says Raphael. “It’s an opportunity to be part of an organization that is changing lives. I am enthusiastic about helping to implement CIRM’s strategic plan and contributing to their mission of accelerating stem cell treatments to patients in need, especially those in underserved and underrepresented communities.”
The agency also welcomes Koren Temple-Perry as Senior Director of Marketing Communications.
Koren joins CIRM after spending the last 15 years translating complex scientific information into compelling content for diverse audiences.
As a former journalist, she has worked extensively in the areas of patient and community health education, health advocacy, and scientific communications for hospitals, research institutes, and healthcare organizations.
Prior to joining CIRM, she founded Temple Communications LLC, which specializes in scientific copywriting and marketing communications for public health organizations.
She served as consulting communications director for March for Science, where she led the media and communications campaign for the global marches. She spent many years as a communications writer and digital marketing manager at academic medical centers throughout New York.
Koren earned her master’s degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Santa Clara University. Her passion for improving health equity led to her appointment as District 5 Commissioner to the Alameda County Public Health Commission and to the Board of Directors for Jamal’s Helping Hands, a non-profit dedicated to helping families of color navigate rare diseases.
“I am truly honored to lead CIRM’s marketing communications team as the Agency aims to bring promising stem cell and gene therapy science to diverse communities,” says Koren. “I see incredible potential in building meaningful partnerships and elevating our outreach strategies to amplify cutting-edge treatments so that all Californians have equitable access to them. I am eager to make a positive impact in my new role and contribute to CIRM’s overall success.”
“We are delighted to have these talented individuals join the CIRM team,” says CIRM President and CEO Dr. Maria Millan. “They all bring unique qualifications and critical skills to support our strategic plan and advancement of CIRM’s mission to accelerate world class science for California and the world. We look forward to working with all of them.”