16 Facts About Hans Keirstead

Hans Keirstead is a medical scientist and entrepreneur specializing in stem cell research.

Hans Keirstead went on to complete four years of post-doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge, where he was the youngest person elected to two senior academic posts, Fellow of the Governing Body of Downing College and Senate Member of the University of Cambridge.

In 2000, Keirstead left his position at the University of British Columbia, where his spinal cord research had been funded by Rick Hansen's charitable foundation.

Hans Keirstead joined the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California, Irvine.

Hans Keirstead testified on the state's biotech industry to the California State Senate in 2002 amidst a national debate about stem cell laws and policy in the United States.

In 2004, Hans Keirstead publicly supported California Proposition 71, which aimed to authorize three billion dollars for stem cell research for a newly created California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Hans Keirstead was criticized at the time, because the procedure had yet to be published in a peer reviewed journal, but it subsequently published the following year in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Hans Keirstead was Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology and Professor of Neurological Surgery at the School of Medicine of the University of California at Irvine for fifteen years, where he was awarded over $16 million in grants and founded the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center.

Hans Keirstead launched medical research startup companies in Orange County and is currently CEO at AIVITA Biomedical.

Hans Keirstead has developed new treatments for cancer and for neurological injuries, and has been granted over 20 patents.

In 2013, Hans Keirstead took a leave of absence from UC Irvine to conduct tests in the private sector.

Hans Keirstead's first focus after the leave of absence was trials for targeting skin cancer cells using stem cells from the cancer itself to train the immune system.

In 2016, Hans Keirstead founded AIVITA Biomedical, a private biotechnology company focused on cancer and developing a treatment that is proving to be the most effective to ever reach the final phase of clinical trials.

Hans Keirstead announced in June 2017 that he would run for Congress as a Democrat, challenging a seat held by Dana Rohrabacher in California's 48th congressional district.

Hans Keirstead's campaign appears to have been targeted by a cyberattack.

Hans Keirstead's wife, Niki, is a neuroscientist specializing in Alzheimer's disease.