Michael West, PhD
Founder and CEO of AgeX Therapeutics, USA

Dr. Michael West has focused his academic and business career on the application of developmental biology to age-related degenerative disease. He is founder and Chief Executive Officer of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the emerging field of interventional gerontology. He formerly served as CEO/Co-CEO at BioTime, Inc., a regenerative medicine company, from 2007 to 2017. Prior to that, he held various positions, including Chairman, CEO, and CSO at Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., which re-branded as Ocata Therapeutics and was acquired by Astellas Pharma in 2016 for $379 million.
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In 1990, Dr. West founded Geron (Geronology) Corporation with backing from venture capital firms Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, and Venrock, recruiting for its scientific team Drs. Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak, who collectively went on to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine. While at Geron, Dr. West created the research consortium that led to the first isolation of human embryonic stem cells.

Dr. West has penned numerous articles for peer-reviewed scientific journals and is the author of The Immortal Cell: One Scientist's Quest to Solve the Mystery of Human Aging (DoubleDay, 2003). He has been a guest on NBC’s Meet the Press and has testified before the U.S. Congress on the lifesaving potential of regenerative medicine.
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Dr. West received his BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976, MS in Biology from Andrews University in 1982, and PhD from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989 concentrating on the biology of cellular aging.

 
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