2009 Election Candidates

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Lawrence S. B. Goldstein, Ph.D.
Dr. Goldstein is Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program. He is also an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Goldstein has been with the UCSD School of Medicine since 1993. A UCSD alumnus, he received his B.A. degree in biology and genetics from UCSD in 1976, and his Ph.D. degree in genetics from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1980. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1980 to 1983, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983-1984. He was assistant, associate, and full professor at Harvard University in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology from 1984 to 1993, when he moved to UCSD and HHMI.

His awards include a Senior Scholar Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation, an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award, the Loeb Chair in Natural Sciences when he was at Harvard University, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work is supported by funding from HHMI, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Johns Hopkins ALS Center, ALSA, and the HighQ Foundation.

Goldstein's research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of movement inside brain cells and how failures in the movement systems may lead to neurodegenerative diseases. His laboratory has discovered important links between transport processes and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.

Goldstein has had an active role in national science policy, having served on many public scientific advisory committees, in addition to serving as an expert commentator on the issue of stem cell research and biomedical research policy by print and broadcast media. He has testified on a number of occasions in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate about NIH funding and stem cell research. Dr. Goldstein also served as co-chair of the scientific advisory committee to the campaign for the Proposition 71 stem cell research initiative, which authorizes $3 billion in tax-free state bonds to fund stem cell research in California over 10 years. As a co-founder and consultant of the biotechnology company, Cytokinetics, he has also had an active role in private industry where he has gained experience in translating scientific insights to new therapeutic approaches.

Updated: April 16, 2009