Catherine Verfaillie, M.D., an internationally recognized expert on stem cell research, will present the 23rd Annual Latta Lecture at noon on Tuesday, March 8, in the Durham Research Center’s Scott Auditorium.
“Dr. Verfaillie is one of the true leaders in the stem cell research effort world-wide,” said Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research at UNMC. “We are extremely pleased that she has returned to UNMC to share her insights about this rapidly advancing field of research.”
All members of the campus community are invited to the scientific lecture, which is sponsored by the UNMC College of Medicine Alumni Association. Dr. Verfaillie’s presentation is titled, “The Promise of Stem Cell Research.”
A pioneer of stem cell research, Dr. Verfaillie is the director of the University of Minnesota’s Stem Cell Institute. In 2000, Dr. Verfaillie was named one of the nation’s 10 leading innovators in science and technology by the U.S. News and World Report.
Earlier this year, she announced her plans to step down from her position to oversee the creation of a similar institute in Belgium, her native country. She will divide her time over the next two years between the two institutes.
“We welcome Dr. Verfaillie at this critical phase that our campus has achieved in stem cell research,” said College of Medicine Dean John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D. “We believe that her visit will help catalyze further interest in this exciting frontier of research, and this will provide us with an opportunity to establish formal interactions with an individual who has achieved significant recognition in the field.”
Dr. Gollan noted that two UNMC research teams soon will begin using embryonic stem cell lines in their research. Those lines are among the stem cell lines approved by President Bush.
Best known for her work in adult stem cells, Dr. Verfaillie also has been an outspoken proponent of research on embryonic stem cells. Because so much is yet to be discovered, she believes both embryonic stem cell and adult stem cell research must go forward.
“There are still a lot of questions,” Verfaillie has said. “I think that, down the line, it will probably turn out that for disease A, embryonic stem cells will be better, and for disease B, adult stem cells will be better.”
The Latta Lecture is named after the late John S. Latta, M.D. Dr. Latta taught courses in embryology and histology at UNMC from 1921 until 1963. The chairman of the department of anatomy from 1940 to 1960, Dr. Latta earned the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska Foundation in 1957. In 1980, the UNMC College of Medicine Alumni Association established the John S. Latta Lectureship to commemorate his service to the college. Dr. Latta died in 1989 at age 94.