CIRM Scholar Training Program

Our CIRM Scholar Training Program provides many benefits to the citizens of the state of California who generously fund CIRM through their tax dollars. First and foremost, our program has already contributed and will continue to enhance the core mission of CIRM: To accelerate the development of cellular-based therapies that will address unmet medical needs of the citizens of California. CIRM Scholars funded in previous cycles contributed major advances that have already been integrated into new therapies for many forms of cancer as well as a variety of genetic diseases. Our program will train the next generation of scientists and enable further medical breakthroughs that would be delayed for years in the absence of CIRM support. The trainees that we will mentor through classroom exposure to stem cell biology and laboratory research in cutting edge technologies promise to continue the trajectory already established by the scientists previously supported by our CIRM Scholars training funds. Many of our past trainees have moved on to independent careers in academics, biotechnology, direct patient care, and science policy roles where they continue to push the boundaries of what can be achieved through high quality scientific research. An additional benefit to the state of California and its citizens is economic: our CIRM Scholar Training Grant will enable a diverse workforce of early-career scientists to contribute to the major impact that CIRM has enabled for California’s economy. Each trainee will work with skilled life sciences research technicians who will be hired because of the need for technical support in the projects pursued by our trainees. Many supplies for the research mission will also be purchased from California-based businesses, with a tremendous impact on the economy. Finally, many of our trainees will go on to find employment within California, working in universities, private companies, government, and other areas as a direct result of funds provided by the CIRM initiative. Our training program will help to build an ecosystem in which the important research in stem cell science can be rapidly translated to clinical trials and eventual standard of care practices that would be severely delayed in the absence of consistent and stable sources of funding for the future scientific workforce of California.