Parents of sick children often go to extraordinary lengths to help their offspring, but few can go so far as Robert Klein ’70 (BA ’67). Klein’s fight to help his son, 14-year-old Jordan, who has juvenile diabetes, began with his researching the disease and its treatments. When he became convinced that the best possibility for a cure lay in stem cell research, for which the Bush administration has restricted funds, he wrote California Proposition 71, the $3-billion stem cell initiative; donated $3 million of his own money for the campaign; and led the fund-raising drive for its adoption. Prop. 71 passed with 59 percent of the vote on November 2.

Klein, 60, then lobbied for the position of chairman of the new Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), which will dole out $300 million a year over a decade for stem cell research. The 29-member committee, which will oversee the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, in December unanimously approved Klein for the post. He will serve a six-year term.

“Bob has the experience, organizational and leadership skills, along with the passion and dedication, to make the state’s investment pay off in scientific advances that will result in new therapies for a host of diseases,” said Paul Berg, Cahill Professor in Cancer Research, Emeritus, at the Stanford School of Medicine. Berg, a Nobel laureate, was on Prop. 71’s scientific advisory board. “As president of the ICOC, he will also be an effective interface between the scientific and medical community, and the governor’s office and the legislature.”

Klein, president of Klein Financial Corporation, a real estate investment banking company with expertise in financing and developing affordable housing, has pursued a number of interests in the public sector. For six years he was a board member of the State of California Housing Finance Agency, and he currently serves on the board of the Global Security Institute, whose aim is to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons. He also helped pass a $1.5 billion mandatory federal funding bill for the National Institutes of Health to research diabetes.

Klein turned his attention to stem cell research when he realized that treatments for diabetes were mainly band-aid approaches that stave off blindness, amputations, and kidney failure. Many scientists are placing their hopes for a cure in stem cells, which are found in blastocysts, fertilized human eggs that have divided a few times. Stem cells develop into the various cells that make up the human body.

People with a number of diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and conditions such as spinal cord injuries, may eventually benefit from stem cell research. But much of the research is now focused on diabetes, the most common disease for which stem cells are seen as a possible cure, and one for which physicians have already seen some successes.

The hope is that scientists will be able to coax stem cells into becoming insulin-producing pancreatic cells, then transplant those cells into diabetic patients, who lack the ability to produce insulin. Pancreatic cell transplants from cadavers have worked for diabetics, though side effects from medications taken to prevent organ rejection pose problems, especially for children. Scientists hope they can create insulin-producing pancreatic cells that are compatible with recipients.

Before stem cells can provide transplant material, however, researchers need to figure out how to convince these cells to turn into insulin-producing pancreatic cells. Even if they fail in this endeavor, they still believe the knowledge they gain from stem cell research will help them understand certain diseases better, allowing them to develop new drugs or other treatments.

In 2002, California became the first state to pass a law permitting stem cell research; it is also the first to fund research on stem cells. Lawmakers from Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and other states are introducing bills to support funding for research as well.

“[Klein], having pretty much authored the ballot initiative, understands fully what the initiative promised and what has to be organized and done in order to fulfill that promise,” Berg said. “I believe Bob sees and understands the historical significance of what he and California have done, and he is determined not to let that precedent fail or be caught up in bickering or controversy.”