Mahendra Rao
Vice-President Regenerative Medicine
The New York Stem Cell Foundation, USA
Mahendra Rao received his MD (MBBS) from Bombay University in India and his PhD in developmental neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Rao is currently the vice-president of strategic affairs at Q Therapeutics, a neural stem cell company based in Salt Lake City (Utah). He is also vice-president of regenerative medicine and a consultant for the New York Stem Cell Foundation. He provides consultant and advisory services to several regenerative medicine companies.
Dr. Rao is internationally known for his research involving human embryonic stem cells and other somatic stem cells. He has worked in the stem cell field for more than twenty years with stints in academia, government, and regulatory affairs and industry.
Dr. Rao has an extensive background teaching medical and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows at institutions such as The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, and the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Dr. Rao has published more than 350 papers on stem cell research. He is the co-founder of Q Therapeutics and more recently NxCell based in California. Dr. Rao was the founding director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center of Regenerative Medicine and the chief of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology at the NIH.