Author Archive: Admin@AgeConf

Mike West

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Mike West
Mike West, Ph.D.
CEO of BioTime, Inc.

Michael D. West, Ph.D. has served as the BioTime Inc. Chief Executive Officer since 2007, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2002. Dr. West also serves as a Director of BioTime company Asterias Biotherapeutics (NYSE MKT: AST). From 1998 to 2007, Dr. West served as CEO, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (now Ocata Therapeutics, Nasdaq: OCAT), a company engaged in developing human stem cell technology for use in regenerative medicine.In 1990 Dr. West founded Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) of Menlo Park, California, which may have been the first regenerative medicine company. He secured investment in Geron from Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Venrock and other venture capital firms, and for the company’s Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board he recruited Nobel Laureates Drs. Carol Greider and James Watson, as well as Leonord Hayflick and others. He also created the research consortium with Drs. James Thomson and John Gearhart that led to the first isolation of human embryonic stem cells. Click here to watch Dr. Mike West speak on the Future of Aging.

Dr. West received a B.S. Degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976, an M.S. Degree in Biology from Andrews University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989 concentrating on the biology of cellular aging. Find out more about Dr. West here: http://www.biotimeinc.com/

Sean Morrison

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R. Sean Morrison, M.D., FAAHPM
Professor and Vice-Chair of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Director of the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City

R Sean Morrison, MD, is Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine, Hermann Merkin Professor of Palliative Care, and Vice-Chair for Research in the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In addition, he serves as Director of the National Palliative Care Research Center. He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and then completed residency training in internal medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in geriatric medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Widely published in the fields of geriatrics and palliative care, he has received numerous awards for his work. His research interests include decision-making in the setting of serious illness, pain and symptom management in older adults, and health services research in palliative care. The immediate Past-President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, he serves as Scientific Officer of the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Review Panel of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). His research on end-of-life decision-making, pain and symptom management in high risk populations, and quality measures in palliative care was featured on the PBS special “On Our Own Terms.” He is a frequent commentator on issues related to palliative care and geriatrics in the national media. To see more from

Dr. R. Sean Morrison, please click on the following link: Strategic frameworks and plans for palliative care