Hope, Hype and Reality: The Need to Manage Community Expectations in Stem Cell Therapies for MSK Health

 

Presenters:

Associate Professor Megan Munsie, Head - Education, Ethics, Law & Community Awareness Unit, Stem Cells Australia, The University of Melbourne

Associate Professor Megan Munsie is based at The University of Melbourne where she heads the Education, Ethics, Law & Community Awareness Unit at the Australian government funded Stem Cells Australia initiative and is the Deputy Director at the newly established Centre for Stem Cell Systems. Over the course of her 20 year career in stem cell science, Megan has combined her scientific expertise – gained through working in academia and industry – with a deep understanding of the issues associated stem cell research and its clinical translation. She has made a substantial contribution to the development of policy at a domestic and international level; co-authored numerous educational resources for the public, health and educational professionals, and published extensively on ethical, legal and social implications of stem cell research. Megan is the current Chair of the ASSCR Policy, Ethics and Translation Sub-Committee, a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research Ethics Committee and on advisory committees to groups including AusBiotech and the International Society for Cellular Therapy.

 

Dr Mark Young, Co-Medical Director, Qsports Medicine, Queensland.

Mark qualified in London, before becoming a General Practitioner in Alice Springs. He joined the Australian College of Sports & Exercise Physician’s Specialist training program in 1996, and spent the next 4 years at the AIS in Canberra prior to the Sydney Olympics. In 2000, Mark moved to Brisbane where he now works in a private Sports Medicine practice, and in stem cell research. This is where his interest developed in how biotechnology and neuroscience will change the future of our society. Mark has presented on several international webinars and on ABC TV’s 7.30 Report on the use of stem cells in sport.

Mark is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Translational Research Institute (Stem Cell Therapies Laboratory), Queensland University of Technology and a Commonwealth Government appointed member of ASADA’s Medical Advisory Committee.

Description: The possibility that stem cells may one day be used to treat ailments ranging from neurodegenerative disorders to osteoarthritis has captured the public’s imagination and given hope to many. While clinical trials are underway around the world to evaluate potential new therapies involving stem cells for the vast majority of conditions, many more years of careful research are still required before safe and effective stem cell treatments will be available. However, over the last decade there has been a rise in the number of clinics in Australia and abroad aggressively promoting miraculous stem cell ‘treatments’. Cashing in on community excitement associated with stem cell science and its promise to revolutionise medicine, these interventions are offered outside the clinical trial framework with little regulatory oversight and are effectively selling hope to those who have been told nothing else can be done. Not only are these practices placing patients at risk of financial, physical and psychological harm, but this unrestrained activity runs the risk of compromising genuine efforts to translate promising stem cell research into clinical benefit. This presentation will explore the latest science behind the promise of stem cells, discuss the limitation of regulatory measures taken to date to curb non-evidence based practices and the challenge of managing the expectations of those who see stem cell science as their only hope.