ASGCT Press Release

Carter Named President of American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy

WASHINGTON, DC - Barrie J. Carter, PhD, was sworn in today as the 2010-11 President of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy.

Dr. Carter, a managing member at Carter BioConsulting in Seattle, said he will focus his presidency on expanding dialog with the National Institutes of Health, a primary funding source for gene and cell therapy research, and shepherding therapies through their current, translational stage.

“In the last couple of years, we have seen some remarkable results – we have independent groups performing studies and receiving the same results, patients are overcoming the symptoms of their disease, we have gene therapies in Phase II and Phase III trials,” Dr. Carter said. “All of these technologies that began to be developed 20 years ago are becoming fruitful.”

Dr. Carter said that in the next year he anticipates ASGCT researchers producing more advanced results with the currently promising treatments, as well as more early successes in applying gene and cell therapy to new diseases.

 Dr. Carter has been an active member of ASGCT since its inception in 1996, has served two terms on the Board of Directors and worked for more than 20 years at the National Institutes of Health. To read an expanded biography of Dr. Carter, please click here.

R. Jude Samulski, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gene Therapy Center, assumed the position of President-Elect. Xandra O Breakefield, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital, was elected Vice President and John J. Rossi, PhD, Beckman Research Institute City of Hope, was elected Secretary. The ASGCT membership also elected the following new Board members: Fabio Candotti, MD, NIH/NHGRI; Roberto Catteneo, PhD, Mayo Clinic; Brendan Lee, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) is a professional non-profit medical and scientific organization dedicated to the understanding, development and application of genetic and cellular therapies and the promotion of professional and public education in the field. For more information on ASGCT, visit its website, www.asgct.org.

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