Editorial: For $10,000, you get ...
By Sacramento Bee,
Sacramento Bee
| 04. 16. 2006
Frustrated by lawsuits that have held up funding for California's $3 billion stem cell research institute, some of San Francisco's most prominent philanthropists are holding a gala fundraiser for this state agency on May 22.
A press release for "Reach for Tomorrow, Research Today" says the event will offer "private scientific briefings" and "private tours" of nearby campuses for donors willing to contribute up to $10,000 per person, or $100,000 per table. The event also offers a VIP reception, a black-tie dinner and appearances by actress Julie Andrews, composer Marvin Hamlisch and others.
Presumably, the event will also draw university deans and biotech executives who want some exclusive face time with institute leaders - public officials who will be deciding on multi-million-dollar grants to universities and biotech companies. At least three of these public officials are helping to organize the event. These include Institute President Zach Hall, Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Klein II and Vice Chairman Ed Penhoet, listed as honorary co-chairs of "Reach for Tomorrow." (Details can be found at www.reachfortomorrow.info.)
What is wrong with this picture? Plenty, if...
Related Articles
By Gregory Laub and Hannah Glaser, MedPage Today | 08.07.2025
In this MedPage Today interview, Leigh Turner, PhD, a professor of health policy and bioethics at the University of California Irvine, unpacks the growing influence of stem cell clinics and the blurred line between medicine and marketing. He explains how...
By Gina Kolata, The New York Times | 06.20.2025
A single infusion of a stem cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes. One year later, these 10 patients no longer need insulin. The other two patients need...
By Christina Jewett, The New York Times | 06.05.2025
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently declared that he wanted to expand access to experimental therapies but conceded that they could be risky or fraudulent.
In a podcast with Gary Brecka, who describes himself as a longevity expert...
By Mike Baker, The New York Times | 02.25.2025
As investigators struggled for weeks to find who might have committed the brutal stabbings of four University of Idaho students in the fall of 2022, they were focused on a key piece of evidence: DNA on a knife sheath that...
