Bernard Siegel
Executive Director, Genetics Policy Institute (GPI)
Co-Chair, Governmental Affairs Committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
Bernard Siegel received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Miami.
In 2002, he filed the landmark
case seeking a guardian for the alleged clone, “Baby Eve.”
The case was widely credited for exposing the alleged company making
the cloning claim, as a sham.
In 2003, he traded his 30-year
courtroom career to found GPI, a leading proponent of the global
“Pro-Cures Movement.” Working with the world’s
leading scientific authorities and advocates, he played a pivotal role
in protecting stem cell research in the United Nations.
Bernie is a frequent lecturer
on stem cells and public policy and has made presentations to the
United Nations, the Salk Institute, James Baker Institute of Public
Policy at Rice University, New York Biotechnology Association, Diabetes
Research Institute Foundation, Seoul National University, World
Parkinson Congress and the World Congress for Freedom of Scientific
Research in Rome.
He organized major science
conference and patients’ press conference for the United Nations,
featuring a video message from Christopher Reeve. He has created,
organized and chaired annual stem cell summits at Baylor College of
Medicine, Stanford University and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. In
2008, he launched the World Stem Cell Summit to take place September
22-23 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Bernie has appeared as a
policy expert on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, CNN, CNN
International, MSNBC, Fox and Friends and network news shows throughout
the U.S. and the world. He was profiled on National Public
Radio’s All Things Considered. He has been quoted in the New York
Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Wired, The Scientist, New
Scientist, The London Times, Le Monde, Pravda, The Peoples Daily and
many other publications.
Bernie serves on the board of
directors of Americans for Cures Foundation and on the advisory boards
of the New England Spinal Cord Injury Center at Boston Medical Center,
Sabrina Cohen Foundation for Stem Cell Research, The Brooke Ellison
Project and Genomics Education Institute.
He received the 2005 Advocacy
Award from the Stem Cell Action Network and was voted one of the "dLife
Top 10" individuals who made the greatest contribution to the lives of
people with diabetes in 2006.