Dr. Mahendra Rao

Mahendra Rao, MD, Ph.D. earned his MD from Bombay University in India and his Ph.D. in Developmental Neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology. He is known for his research involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), iPSC, and other somatic stem cells. Mahendra has worked in the stem cell field for more than twenty years with stints in academia, government and regulatory affairs and industry. He has an extensive background teaching medical and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows at several institutions including the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, and the University of Utah School of Medicine.
 
He edited Neural Development and Stem Cells and has published more than 300 papers on stem cell research and is the cofounder of a neural stem cell company, Q Therapeutics, based in Salt Lake City (Utah).
 
Mahendra serves on several editorial boards, review panels scientific advisory boards, and company boards. He continues to work with the NIH and FDA and other regulatory authorities on ESC-related issues, most recently as the CIRM and ISSCR liaison to the ISCT.
 
He is currently on the faculty at Wake Forest University and is Vice President of Research in Regenerative Medicine at Q Therapeutics. He currently serves on the Board of CESCA, XCell, and Q Therapeutics and on the SABs and as a consultant of various stem cell companies including the New York Stem Cell Foundation. He maintains an active research program in neural development and in evaluating cell-based screening and therapy to treat disorders of the nervous system.
 
Read his LinkedIn profile and his Wikipedia profile.