speaker

Ibon Garitaonandia

PhD, MBA

Pharmacy

Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Dr. Ibon Garitaonandia is a seasoned executive with several years of experience in research and development who has advanced cell-based therapies from early discovery to clinical translation. He has regulatory filing experience with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), and Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). He is the Chief Scientific Officer at CellProthera, a French clinical-stage biotechnology company developing stem cell-based therapies for cardiovascular and ischemic indications.

He is conducting a Phase 2 study in post-acute myocardial infarction (NCT02669810) and preclinical studies in ischemic stroke. He was previously the Chief Science Officer at Richmond Research Institute (RRI) in London, where he conducted clinical research in cardiac health, diabetes, hepatic injury, ethnic and sex differences in physiology, and COVID-19 (NCT04404062, NCT01984827, NCT01642485, NCT04873258). Prior to joining RRI, he was Chief Scientific Officer at Histocell, a Spanish clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cell-based therapies for acute spinal cord injury (NCT02917291), bone regeneration (NCT02483364), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (NCT04289194). Before that, he was the Director of Translational Research at International Stem Cell Corporation, a Californian clinical-stage biotechnology company developing stem cell-based therapies for Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and stroke. He received the world’s first regulatory approval to conduct a human pluripotent stem cell-based clinical trial in Parkinson’s disease (NCT02452723). He trained with Professor Jeanne Loring at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, where he was awarded a prestigious California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship and collaborated with Nobel Laureates Professor Shinya Yamanaka and Professor Gerald Edelman.

Dr. Ibon Garitaonandia graduated in Chemistry from the University of the Basque Country and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Florida. He has given numerous oral presentations at international conferences including the Society for Neuroscience, the International Society for Cellular Therapy, and the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy, and has authored over 100 publications, including conference abstracts, peer-reviewed publications, and book chapters. He is the co-inventor of five patents and a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the American Chemical Society. He has taught at the National Institutes of Health sponsored Human Embryonic Stem Cell Comprehensive Training Course at The Scripps Research Institute and Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology courses at the University of Florida, where he received a Chemistry Teaching Award.