What does ISSCR membership mean to our community?

ISSCR is an international organization focused on bringing together experts from varied backgrounds and regions to work towards our vision of advancing human health. Membership in ISSCR provides access to valuable networking opportunities, multiple avenues to present your research, travel awards to support scientific exchange, and enhanced opportunities to gain visibility in the field of stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Learn more about what ISSCR members value most about being part of the Society.

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Ali Shariati, PhD
University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

“To me, ISSCR membership means being connected to a community that shares a fascination with very special cells; the stem cells that have the remarkable ability to both renew themselves and become many different types of cells in our body.” 

  • The society has been a place for me to engage with the latest stem cell-related science and policies through newsletters, webinars, workshops, and the annual ISSCR meeting, which is always a highlight of the year. Being part of ISSCR has also allowed me to connect with colleagues who are driving forward our understanding and use of stem cells. Beyond the science, I very much value ISSCR’s role as a strong and active advocate for the stem cell community, especially in today’s uncertain regulatory and funding landscape.

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Amy Wong, PhD
The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto, Canada 

“ISSCR has connected me to a global network of leaders in stem cell research, opened doors to collaborations that have strengthened my work, and kept me at the forefront of emerging science and ethical standards.“

  • ISSCR membership has been pivotal in expanding my scientific reach and accelerating my impact. As a scientist leading a stem cell research laboratory at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, my work is driven by the dual imperatives of scientific excellence and meaningful impact on human health. ISSCR membership connects me to a global network of peers who share this mission, providing a forum to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and accelerate the translation of discoveries from bench to bedside. 

    It also signifies a commitment to the highest standards of scientific integrity, ethical responsibility, and collaborative progress. The ISSCR’s leadership in setting guidelines and fostering dialogue across disciplines helps ensure that our field advances in a way that is both innovative and socially responsible. 

    On a personal level, being part of this community reinforces my belief that transformative science is rarely achieved in isolation. The opportunity to engage with diverse perspectives, from fundamental biology to clinical application, enriches my own research program and inspires new directions. In short, ISSCR membership is not just an affiliation; it is an active partnership in shaping the future of regenerative medicine for the benefit of patients worldwide. 

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Bruno Di Stefano, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine, USA 

“From trainee to faculty, ISSCR has facilitated important collaborations and mentorships that have directly influenced my research and career trajectory.“

  • I joined ISSCR as an undergraduate student in 2008 and have remained a member to this day, now as a principal investigator. Throughout my career, ISSCR membership has provided a multitude of opportunities—from giving talks at the annual meeting to building critical connections with leading scientists and witnessing significant advances in stem cell biology as they were first presented to the field. I continue to rely on ISSCR and the network I've established as I help develop the careers of my mentees. 

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Harsha Devalla, PhD
Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Netherlands 

“ISSCR membership provides valuable access to the global community of stem cell researchers, offering invaluable resources, collaboration opportunities, and a commitment to ethical standards that shape my work.”

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Carolyn Sangokoya, MD, PhD
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA 

“Joining the ISSCR community is valuable for MDs as we are able to see the possibilities and cutting edge of stem cell research within our clinical fields well before our colleagues and are able to contribute, communicate, and collaborate with creative scientists that are interested in pathways from basic biology to therapeutic applications. As a member of ISSCR you can help contribute to resources for the public and patient education as well as policy and regulatory affairs that interface between the society and our international communities.”

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Justin Brumbaugh, PhD
University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

“[ISSCR] provides opportunities to learn from world-leading scientists, scholars, and policymakers, to share my research, and to have a voice in the direction of the field.” 

  • ISSCR has tangibly advanced my career at every level. Through the annual meeting, I gained valuable exposure by presenting my research as a graduate student, postdoc, and junior faculty member. Membership has enabled me to connect with leaders in the field, establish important collaborations, and interact with industry partners to learn about cutting-edge technology. ISSCR also offers credible information and guidance for policy related to stem cell research. This membership means being part of a community of scientists with a shared mission. It

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Kate MacDuffie, MA., PhD
Seattle Children’s Research Institute, USA 

“Joining ISSCR granted access to a trove of resources, seminars, and opportunities that have been pivotal in my early career doing stem cell ethics. Whether participating only remotely, or through in-person meetings, it is clear that ISSCR is the “go to” for  international stem cell research and policy.  The ideas I am being exposed to and the wonderful network of colleagues I’m meeting will have long-lasting impact on my career.”

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Kelvin K. Hui, PhD
Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Japan

“ISSCR membership means being part of a global scientific community gathered to advance basic science on stem cells and their real-world applications.”

  • Being an active ISSCR member and involved in its activities has dramatically expanded my professional network. It is truly fantastic how much ISSCR opens the door for early-career scientists to play an active role in its activities. Especially with the online content and the many ways of getting involved, there is much more to ISSCR membership than the discounted registration for attending the Annual Meeting. It represents an incredible opportunity to meet other like-minded people from around the world and help shape a rapidly changing field.

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Mingxia Gu, MD, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles, USA 

“I have been an ISSCR member since I was a graduate student, and over the years it has become almost like an academic home for me. The community has guided me in my scientific growth as well as my personal maturation as a researcher and mentor. 

Through ISSCR I have had the privilege of meeting and learning from many inspiring leaders in the field. These experiences gave me a true sense of belonging and continue to remind me that I am part of a larger community working toward a shared vision.” 

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Nika Shakiba, PhD
The University of British Columbia, Canada 

“As an early career researcher, ISSCR has enabled me to cultivate important connections within the global network of leaders. It has also provided a touchpoint for my team, who look to the guidelines put forth by ISSCR to shape our best practices in the lab. “

  • As a member of ISSCR, I am embedded in a network of experts spanning continents and fields. I can access scientific talks offered regularly throughout the year on the digital program, allowing me and my team to stay on the forefront of the latest advancements and future directions of research in the community. We also appreciated the preferred rates for the annual conference and publishing with Stem Cell Reports, which allows us to share our work.

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Pengyi Yang, PhD
The University of Sydney, Australia

“ISSCR membership has expanded my international network and created collaboration opportunities that have been pivotal to my research. In particular, it has allowed me to bring computational expertise into cutting-edge experimental studies, fostering impactful collaborations that advance stem cell science.”

  • ISSCR membership has helped me to connect with the global stem cell research community. The membership has provided me the opportunities to exchange ideas at annual ISSCR conference and share my group’s computational work with leaders in stem cell biology. This has broadened the scope and impact of my research.

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Roger A. Barker, MBBS, MRCP, PhD
University of Cambridge, UK

“Stem cell therapies have a great future and medical doctors will have to talk to patients about these treatments and in some cases may even need to prescribe them. Understanding how they came to be developed, how they work and what is coming next is essential for continued professional development and the ISSCR offers all this in one place! “

  • ISSCR membership has enabled me to connect to a group of scientists working on stem cells- which has enabled me to access and understand the science and potential of this work in a way that would not have been possible without the ISSCR. In addition, it has exposed me to the way in which stem cells have translated into clinical work from disciplines outside of my own which I have found extremely informative. Finally, the ISSCR has championed the public and patient understanding of stem cell therapies and I have been delighted to help work with such dedicated teams seeking to better educate the public/patients about these cells and their therapeutic potential as well as clinicians being asked about them.

    ISSCR membership has enabled me to contact and interact with a completely different community of clinician scientists and it has significantly impacted on the work I can do with the ISSCR around education of doctors, patients and the public.

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Takanori Takebe, MD, PhD
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA and The University of Osaka and Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan

“It is one of the few communities where I’ve found an exceptional balance of high-quality basic stem cell science and robust engagement with translational and commercial leaders.”

  • ISSCR has been my scientific home since attending my first annual meeting in Yokohama in 2012. As someone working at the intersection of iPSC technology, liver organoids, and regenerative medicine, ISSCR has allowed me to connect with peers who span a wide spectrum: from developmental biology to clinical trials and biotech entrepreneurship. The leadership’s strong commitment to excellence, openness, and collaboration creates an environment where meaningful exchange and inspiration flourish. Many of my most impactful collaborations have been seeded through ISSCR, reaffirming my commitment to science that bridges discovery and application. 

    With my background in liver transplant surgery, I entered research with deep clinical insights but quickly realized that solving complex biomedical questions now requires access to rapidly evolving technologies: like single-cell multiomics, high-resolution imaging, CRISPR-based editing, and data science pipelines. These are no longer optional, but essential for high-quality, impactful science. ISSCR gave me a front-row seat to these breakthroughs and, more importantly, a global network of experts actively shaping them. The Society enabled me to bridge that gap, transforming clinical questions into experimentally addressable models using iPSC and organoid technologies. By engaging with leaders across academia and industry, I’ve been able to build translational platforms for intractable liver diseases that simply could not be achieved in isolation. ISSCR continues to be the catalyst that helps physician-scientists like me stay scientifically competitive and clinically relevant. 

    ISSCR uniquely offers a space where the pursuit of fundamental science and the urgency of real-world application are not in conflict, but deeply intertwined without compromising either. For MDs, this is essential. I have found ISSCR to be a rare environment where insights from the clinic inform experimental design, and discoveries from the lab are actively shaped with therapeutic potential in mind. It is not a matter of choosing between science and medicine, but embracing both to fuel innovation. For MDs seeking to engage at this intersection, ISSCR provides the ideal platform to contribute meaningfully and stay at the leading edge of the translational drive needed to solve clinical challenges.

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Wei Xie, PhD
Tsinghua University, China

“ISSCR is one of the most diverse and international organizations I have ever seen. The annual meeting is big party every year to stay connected with old friends and meet new friends.“

  • ISSCR membership provides a fantastic opportunity and an essential bond to connect to colleagues working with stem cells, development, and diseases in the world. ISSCR is one of the most diverse and international organizations I have ever seen. The annual meeting is big party every year to stay connected with old friends and meet new friends. But more importantly, I have the opportunity to interact with the best scholars, entrepreneurs, pioneers in the world, to witness in close distance how stem cell research dramatically improved human health through the partnership among academia, industry, regulation agencies. All these excitement makes ISSCR a welcoming home society.   

    Association with ISSCR has shaped my research direction and provided networking opportunities I wouldn't have found otherwise. It’s more than a membership—it’s a career catalyst. I not only attended the annual meetings, but over the years was also involved in next-gen leadership program, scientific program committee, and the board of directors. I have learned tremendously from these experiences and hopefully I can also make my contribution, especially to bridge the stem cell communities inside and outside of China.

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Jaime Imitola, MD, FAAN
UConn Health, USA

“This membership is not just a title; it signifies a commitment to values that prioritize patient benefit—the aim of stem cell research.”

  • Membership in the ISSCR carries significant meaning to me: Becoming a member of the ISSCR means joining an esteemed academic community dedicated to the highest standards of research and the advancement of knowledge in the field of stem cells. This membership is not just a title; it signifies a commitment to values that prioritize patient benefit—the aim of stem cell research. At every symposium and annual conference, this focus is palpably felt in the discussions and the initiatives of our committees. It is inspiring to witness the passion and dedication of our staff and leaders, all working tirelessly toward the shared goal of alleviating human suffering. By participating in this global forum, you are not only advancing your own understanding but also playing a vital role in training the next generation of stem cell researchers and physicians, shaping a brighter future for all, this is very valuable to me and a reason for more clinicians and scientists to join. 

    I am very fortunate to have been involved with the ISSCR community since the early days of the field and ISSCR, starting as a trainee in Boston. This affiliation has significantly shaped my career by serving as a guiding "north star." I have learned from my colleagues, friends, and leaders who are dedicated to best practices and the advancement of academic leadership in stem cell research. Additionally, I have gained the leadership to impact the community with education about manufacturing, legal, and ethical practices. Although the stem cell field has faced numerous challenges, we are making steady progress, and a brighter future is closer than ever, thanks to the results of multiple clinical trials for several diseases, including Parkinson's disease and others.