CGS-authored
When Australian researcher Alan Trounson visited the San Francisco headquarters of California's stem cell agency this summer, he couldn't figure out why Bob Klein, the agency's chairman, wanted to tour an elementary school.
"I thought, 'Well, he's a bit of a strange man,' " Trounson said.
As it turned out, Klein was in recruiting mode.
Trounson, 61, has a 6-year-old son; Klein wanted Trounson to picture family life in the Bay Area.
Later that evening, Klein asked Trounson to apply to be the agency's president.
"I said, 'You're joking.' "
Two months later, Trounson is preparing to step across an ocean to lead the $3 billion California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, created by the passage of Proposition 71 in 2004, which has made California the global hub of stem cell research.
But it's a young agency that's off to a rocky start. Funding was delayed by a lengthy court challenge. High staff turnover, drawn-out internal policy debates and the abrupt resignation in April of Trounson's predecessor, Zach Hall, have combined to slow the agency's progress. It is months behind schedule...