Who are the top stem cell influencers?
Terrapin asked this kind of question to some within our community 4 years ago and came up with a Top 50 list of stem cell influencers, which I like to joke I was “at the top of” because I was #50 and they listed us in reverse chronological order.
What about today? Who are the major regenerative medicine and stem cell influencers?
It’s a subjective, mostly non-scientific, but still interesting kind of question.
Perhaps at some point an impartial party will do a new survey.
In the mean time, there are some indications on social media of who some of these influencers may be. I see a bunch of key stem cell accounts on Twitter that you may want to follow if you are interested in stem cells and regenerative medicine.
But keep in mind that some of the more influential stem cell scientists still either do not have Twitter accounts or almost never tweet. Therefore, this list is not meant as a “top stem cell influencers” list since some top influencers such as Shinya Yamanaka and others just aren’t on Twitter.
So it is a top stem cell influencers on Twitter list.
Below is the list in alphabetical order, including some perhaps not on your radar screen.
These accounts Tweet with hashtags like #stemcells and #stemcell.
I particularly appreciate those accounts that include a mix of info, news, and opinion with original content of their own too.
I emphasize those accounts who regularly tweet and I aimed for a good mixed of accounts across the globe, not just in the U.S. I also included stem cell policy researchers and bioethicists.
Note that I did not include stem cell and regenerative medicine companies in my list. I may do a separate list for them.
Also, I’m not necessarily endorsing the listed accounts or their opinions. In fact, I disagree with some of them on some important issues, but following them is probably useful to stay up to date on what is going on and keep up with key trends. Where I may have a very different stem cell world view than certain Twitter accounts I was considering including, I tried to err on the side of including them anyway if I felt they have influence on the dialogue. Let’s all sing kumbaya? Not quite. But diverse opinions are important and I definitely learn from accounts like these, sometimes changing my views on big issues.
Some accounts are individuals, while others are organizations. You may notice that some have many followers, while others do not. I picked this list of 50 below based simply on my impressions of their influence or because they do interesting tweets and/or have a fresh perspective on things, not strictly based on metrics.
- @AABB (American Association of Blood Banks)
- @aarondlevine (Professor of Public Policy)
- @abcsoka (Stem Cell Researcher Antonei B Csoka)
- @alliancerm (Alliance For Regenerative Medicine)
- @Americans4Cures (Americans for Cures)
- @AusStemCell (National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia)
- @benoitbruneau (Stem Cell Researcher Benoit Bruneau)
- @BernardSiegel (Attorney, Leader of WSCS, Bernie Siegel)
- @biologyfan (Deborah Sweet, Cell Stem Cell Editor, Cell Press bigwig)
- @CaulfieldTim (Professor of Health Law and Policy)
- @CCentenoMD (Stem Cell Physician-Researcher)
- @CCRM_ca (Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine)
- @cells_nnm (Stem Cell Researcher and blogger, Alexey Bersenev)
- @CellStemCell (the journal Cell Stem Cell)
- @celltherapy (Stem cell CEO, policy maker, & blogger Lee Buckler)
- @CiRA_KU_E (CiRA)
- @CIRMnews (CIRM)
- @DavidJensen (Blogger at California Stem Cell Report)
- @DrMichaelWest (Stem Cell Researcher Mike West)
- @EavesLab (Lab of Professor Connie Eaves)
- @EricTopol (Professor Eric Topol)
- @GladstoneInst (The Gladstone Institute)
- @harvardstemcell (Harvard Stem Cell Institute)
- @ISCTglobal (International Society for Cellular Therapy)
- @ISSCR (International Society for Stem Cell Research)
- @jan_nolta (Professor & Editor-In-Chief of Stem Cells journal)
- @jimtill (Professor Jim Till)
- @jwoodgett (Jim Woodgett)
- @LeighGTurner (Bioethicist Leigh Turner)
- @masayomasayo (Stem Cell Professor Masayo Takahashi)
- @MrJeffKarp (Stem Cell Professor Jeff Karp)
- @nyscf (New York Stem Cell Foundation)
- @pknoepfler (Me, Stem Cell Researcher Paul Knoepfler)
- @Prof_ChrisMason (Stem Cell Researcher Chris Mason)
- @RegMedNet (Regenerative Medicine Network)
- @RobertLanza (Bob Lanza)
- @SGottliebFDA (New FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb)
- @SignalsBlog (The Signals Blog)
- @StemCellMarket (Bioinformant)
- @StemCellNetwork (Stem Cell Network)
- @stemcellnews (Stem Cell News Aggregator)
- @stemcellpodcast (Stem Cell Podcast)
- @StemCellsJournl (The journal Stem Cells)
- @SusanNYSCF (Susan Solomon Leader of NYSCF)
- @TetsuyaIshii (Professor Tetsuya Ishii)
- @the_Node (Community Site Run by the journal Development)
- @Thepurplelilac (Stem Cell Researcher on Vision)
- @TheStemCell (Professor Chris Scott)
- @UbakaOgbogu (Professor Ubaka Ogbogu)
- @VitaBrevisBebe (Moi)
- @WSCSummit (The World Stem Cell Summit)
Apologies to those not listed as there are many other worthwhile stem cell and regenerative medicine-related accounts too.
If I missed some of your favorite stem cell accounts on Twitter, weigh in with your ideas in the comments. I may do a new list next year.
Thanks for the mention of AABB and for the useful list!
List of ‘influencers’ where? This is irresponsible and has no value other than marketing to those included. Expecting more from the Niche. Awful and not scientific.
You are gaining a lot of followers and just have to be responsible for what you publish. Regenex? Chris Centeno? You’re talking about a pain manager doctor who has convinced patient to spend 6k on an ACL repair that is simply bogus. Where are the orthopedic surgeons in the list?
What is your motive here?
@Rob,
If you look in the post, I specifically say I don’t necessarily endorse those on this list and I indicate that I have a very different view of stem cells than some of them, but I wasn’t trying to be politically correct with this list. As to “my motive” I was aiming to capture a fairly comprehensive, diverse list of who’s out there with strong influence. Dr. Centeno and I strongly disagree on certain things, but he is a major influencer out there. So are some others on this list who see things very differently than me.
Can’t argue with that and really respect your consistent objectivity. Surprised not to see Dan Eglinton or Austin Yeargan on the list? Dan brought Hernigou’s philosophy and AVN applications to the US and trained Austin who opened the door for applications in orthopedics using for rotator cuffs and eventually many other applications.
I’m sure we all can agree that everyone’s work in stem cell biology and immunology was inspired and supported by the work of countless others who came decades before we did. What they did was truly extraordinary.
Also agree this is not a setting for “political correctness’! Keep up the excellent work. Really is becoming a renowned site with objective point of view. You convinced me you haven’t changed course.
I think we’re all looking forward to seeing how Gottleib/FDA move along.
Thanks for your timely response.
RW
Could be a full time job to follow all of those!