Our Governing Board

About the Governing Board

CIRM is governed by the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC), which is composed of up to 35 Californians with expertise in: (1) managing large research grants and complex institutions and conducting cutting edge medical research; (2) understanding the critical path for the development of successful experimental medical treatments and directing the approval process through the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies and ethical committees; and (3) advocating on behalf of Californians who suffer from a variety of chronic diseases and injuries. Among other responsibilities, the Board is charged with: (1) adopting scientific, medical, ethical, and intellectual property policies; (2) making final decisions on all grant and loan awards; and (3) overseeing the operations of CIRM.

The board is made up of:

  • Patient advocates who keep the agency’s focus where it belongs: on the people who need cures for chronic disease and injury. They represent a wide range of diseases including diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, HIV/AIDS, mental health and spinal cord injury.
  • Nurses who provide expertise in clinical trial management or stem cell or genetic therapy delivery to inform the agency on patient care standards, quality assurance procedures and care systems.
  • Biotechnology industry leaders who ensure that our policies and funding draw on California’s biotechnology expertise. With these board members guiding agency decisions we have confidence that the industry will be poised to work with CIRM to accelerate the process of getting these new therapies to the patients who need them.
  • Research leaders from nationally ranked medical schools and research institutes with track records of moving basic research to the clinic who provides the agency with scientific expertise needed to direct the agency’s funding initiatives.

Board Appointments

Board members are appointed as follows:

  • The University of California Chancellors at San Francisco, Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego, Irvine and Riverside can each appoint a single executive officer from their respective campus. In addition, the Chancellor at San Francisco can appoint a faculty member, physician/scientist, researcher, or executive officer from the Fresno/Clovis campus.
  • The Governor can appoint an executive from a California University, an executive from a nonprofit research institution, an executive from a California life sciences company, a patient advocate for spinal cord injury, a patient advocate for Alzheimer’s disease, and a patient advocate for mental health conditions.
  • The Lieutenant Governor can appoint an executive from a California University, an executive from a nonprofit research institution, an executive from a California life sciences company, a patient advocate for type 2 diabetes, a patient advocate for either multiple sclerosis or ALS, and a patient advocate for mental health conditions.
  • The Treasurer can appoint an executive from a California University, an executive from a nonprofit research institution, an executive from a California life sciences company, a patient advocate for type 1 diabetes, and a patient advocate for heart disease.
  • The Controller can appoint an executive from a California University, an executive from a nonprofit research institution, an executive from a California life sciences company, a patient advocate for cancer, and a patient advocate for Parkinson’s disease.
  • The Speaker of the Assembly can appoint a patient advocate for mental health disease or mental health conditions.
  • The President pro Tempore can appoint a patient advocate for HIV/AIDS.
  • The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer and Controller can each nominate one person for the position of Chair and Vice-chair. The appointed members of the governing board vote from among those nominees to select those two positions.

For a list of the current ICOC Board members, visit our Board Member page.

Board Subcommittees & Working Groups

Subcommittees of the Board advise the Board on specific issues within the subcommittee’s subject area.  Subcommittees help the Board work efficiently through various subject areas by creating subsets of Board members with specific expertise and interest in the given subject area.

Board Regulations

Upcoming Board Meetings

Please visit our public meetings page for upcoming Board meetings. The meeting agendas are generally posted ten days in advance of the Board meeting date. The list below only contains 2024 ICOC or ICOC/ARS meeting dates.

  • January 25, 2024 – In-person/Zoom
  • February 22, 2024 – Zoom
  • March 28, 2024  – In-person/Zoom
  • April 25, 2024  – Zoom
  • May 30, 2024 – Zoom
  • June 27, 2024 – In-person/Zoom
  • July 9, 2024 – In-person/Zoom
  • July 25, 2024 – Zoom
  • August 29, 2024 – Zoom
  • September 26, 2024 – In-person/Zoom
  • November 21, 2024 – Zoom
  • December 12, 2024 – In-person/Zoom*Meeting dates and locations are subject to change.

ICOC meeting agendas and transcripts are available in the meeting archives.

Back to Top