Committees and Working Groups

In order to enhance communication and cooperation with the regenerative medicine community, the Alliance utilizes eight committees comprised of representatives from member organizations to provide leadership, feedback, and expert insight to our advocacy and education efforts.

Capital Formation Committee

CHAIR: Ed Field, COO, Cytomedix
This committee was recently established to develop and advocate for federal and state policies that would promote capital formation in regenerative medicine. It will also focus on exploring and discovering other possible ways the Alliance can support members on this crucial issue. Read More.

Communications and Education Committee

CO-CHAIRS: Lee Buckler, Managing Director, Cell Therapy Group; Julie Meldrum, Director, Corporate Communications Mesoblast
The Communication and Education Committee has primary responsibility for overseeing the Alliance’s communications activities, including interaction with key stakeholder groups such as government agencies, investors, insurance providers, healthcare and clinical research centers, the media, patient groups and the general public.  The overarching goal of the committee is to enhance the visibility and credibility of regenerative medicine as a source of current and future healthcare solutions while positioning the Alliance as the voice for the regenerative medicine community worldwide.   

Government Relations and Policy Committee

CHAIR: Susan Solomon, CEO, New York Stem Cell Foundation
This committee is responsible for formal interaction with Congress, congressional staff, and federal agencies including testifying, attending meetings, and other activities as appropriate. The Committee guides the development of an advocacy agenda and executes the lobbying strategy for the Alliance on Capitol Hill. It focuses on both authorization programs and appropriations related to regenerative medicine. The Committee also advocates for programs to fund regenerative medicine research at NIH, DoD, and elsewhere. Read More.

Operations and Governance Committee

CO-CHAIRS: Martin McGlynn, President and CEO, StemCells, Inc.; Keith Murphy, Chairman and CEO, Organovo
This committee is a unified committee that is the combination of the former Membership and the Nomination and Governance committees. The committee will be responsible for assisting staff with the operational structure of the organization, recruitment of new members, encouraging member participation in recruitment activities, directing the fulfillment of member programs, and nominating officers and executive committee members.

Regulatory Committee

CHAIR: Kathy Tsokas, Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs, Johnson & Johnson
The Regulatory Committee oversees development and implementation of the regulatory agenda for the Alliance. This includes prioritization of regulatory objectives with FDA and others as necessary. The Regulatory Committee is responsible for interaction with regulatory agencies at public hearings, meetings, roundtables, PDUFA negotiations, submission of comments to the regulatory docket, and other forums for public discussion. Read More.

Reimbursement Committee

CHAIR: Theresa Dixon, Vice President, Government Affairs and Health Economics, Advanced BioHealing, a Shire Company
This committee is responsible for developing reimbursement policy related to coverage, payment and coding for regenerative medicine products as well as other related projects including pharmaco-economic studies, comparative effectiveness research and economic modeling. The committee is ARM’s liaison to CMS, AHRQ, as well as private insurers. Read More.

Science and Technology Committee

CO-CHAIRS: Dolores Baksh, Director, Research & Development, Organogenesis; Bob Deans, Executive Vice President, Regenerative Medicine, Athersys; Robert Preti, President, Chief Scientific Officer, PCT
The S&T Committee serves as a forum for Alliance members to exchange ideas, information, and data on different science and technology issues within the regenerative medicine field. One of the principal responsibilities of the committee is to consider issues relating to process and research standards in the context of regulatory science that could be adopted by the industry after consultation with other interested and qualified organizations and the appropriate federal agencies.

Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Committee

CO-CHAIRS: Michael Abecassis, Chief, Division of Transplantation, Northwestern Memorial Hospital; Jennifer Elisseeff, Professor, Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University; Robert Palay, Chief Executive Officer, Cellular Dynamics
The TEBC has been established to organize the companies and institutions developing tissue engineered and biomaterial-based regenerative medicine products. The primary purpose of the TEBC is to accelerate the commercialization of these novel regenerative medicine products by identifying the unique requirements (regulatory, reimbursement, and policy) facing the tissue engineering and biomaterials subgroup of the regenerative medicine field and work with the other ARM committees to make sure they are addressed in the context of our broader advocacy, education, and communications agenda.