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Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute Patient Wants “Life Back’

10/26/2009

A Miller School component whose mission is to redefine how medicine is practiced held its official coming out party Thursday evening, Oct. 22.

More than 100 people, including Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., and University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala, were present for the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute’s open house ceremony.

Simply stated, the goal of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) is to use stem cells to replace human cells and organs that have been damaged by disease and age.

“Every once in a while in medicine, new opportunities materialize that can really change the way medicine is conducted, and offer new opportunities to improve human health,” ISCI Director Joshua Hare, M.D., told an audience under a white tent erected alongside the Biomedical Research Building.

“These cells have an amazing therapeutic potential for many, many diseases that we now consider to be untreatable,” added Hare, who is also the Louis Lemberg Professor of Medicine.

“Many, many medical schools around the country have started stem cell institutes, notably places like Harvard and Hopkins,” Hare said. “But we are going to be the stem cell institute in the United States that has the greatest impact on human health in the quickest amount of time, because of our emphasis on translational research.”

Putting a human face on medical research that’s incredibly involved and complicated, Hare introduced the audience to Albert Veloz, M.D., a physician and heart-attack patient participating in one of several trials being conducted at the ISCI.

“I am a 48-year-old man and the reason that I’m here is because I had a myocardial infarction back in June,” Veloz said as a hush descended over the tent. “Two months ago, my cardiologist referred me to this wonderful team.

“My interest with this study is to get my life back,” Veloz said. “I have shortness of breath when I do exercise and I want to see my little kid, who’s two and a half years old, grow up and be a good man. I want to enjoy my family again and I want to enjoy the activities that I used to do before.”

ISCI’s open house culminated with tours of the Institute’s laboratories inside the Biomedical Research Building.