As a Patient Advocate, Robert Klein authored and chaired the campaign for California’s Proposition 71, the $6 billion “California Stem Cell Research and Cures” General Obligation Bond and Constitutional Initiative that established the public corporation that funds California’s Institutions’ stem cell and genetic research and FDA approved human trials.

For its first seven years, Mr. Klein was Chair of the Governing Board of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state funding entity financed by federal obligation bonds, as established by Proposition 71 to manage the peer review, standards, and grant process for the $3 billion in stem cell research and therapy development program funding authorized by the Initiative, in addition to the $3 billion for bond interest payments for 40 years.

Mr. Klein serves on the Chancellor’s section of the International Board of JDRF. He previously served on the Board of Genome Canada, a government genomic and proteomic research agency with a $1.8 billion research portfolio. He co-chaired the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Working Group of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership, which initiated the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium in Canada, which he also co-chaired. He served on the Governing Board of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research that spun out 17 companies, during his tenure, as the first phase of returns for the government, from a $1.2 billion investment in cancer discoveries and therapies. Robert Klein also serv es as Chairman and President of Klein Financial Corporation, a real estate development company. He does not hold any financial interests in biotech or pharmaceutical companies.

Recognition includes: Time Magazine’s “World’s 100 Most Influential People of the Year” in 2005; Scientific American’s “The Scientific American 50” as a leader shaping the future of science in 2005; the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s international “Biotech Humanitarian Award” in 2010; Research!America’s Gordon & Llura Gund Leadership Award in 2010 and the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) first ever “ISSCR Public Service Award” in 2011.