Clive Svendsen, PhD, did his pre doctoral training at Harvard University. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in England where he then established a stem cell research group before moving to the University of Wisconsin in 2000 to became Professor of Neurology and Anatomy, Director of an NIH funded Stem Cell Training Program and Co-Director of the University of Wisconsin Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center. In 2010, he moved to Los Angeles to establish and direct the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute, which currently has 15 faculty members and approximately 100 staff. One focus of his current research is to derive cells from patients with specific disorders which can then be "reprogrammed" to a primitive state and used as powerful models of human disease. Svendsen led the first groups to successfully model both Spinal Muscular Atrophy and more recently Huntington’s Disease using this technology. The other side of his research involves cutting edge clinical trials. He was involved with one of the first growth factor treatments for Parkinson’s Disease and is currently working closely with neurosurgeons, neurologists and other scientists to develop novel ways of using stem cells modified to release powerful growth factors to treat patients with neurological diseases such as ALS, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

View NIH Biographical Sketch as a PDF

• Undergraduate: King's College London, 1983
• Doctorate: Jesus College, Cambridge, 1991

View CV as a PDF

• Smidt Heart Institute
• Regenerative Medicine Clinic (Heart Institute)
• Biomedical Sciences
• Medicine
• Biomedical Imaging Research Institute

• Board, Emulate Incorporated, Organ on a Chip Company, Current
• Kerry and Simone Vickar Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Regenerative Medicine, 2014
• Shelia Essey Award, American Academy of Neurology, 2010
• Huntington Disease Trailblazer Award, Huntington’s Disease Society of America, 2009
• Statuette Award, International Academy for Child Brain Development, 2006

Click here for a list of peer-reviewed publications.

• Kong SY, Park MH, Lee M, Kim JO, Lee HR, Han BW, Svendsen CN, Sung SH, Kim HJ. Kuwanon v inhibits proliferation, promotes cell survival and increases neurogenesis of neural stem cells. PLoS One. 2015;10(2):e0118188.
• Lu B, Lin Y, Tsai Y, Girmans S, Adamus G, Jones MK, Shelley B, Svendsen C, Wang S. A Subsequent Human Neural Progenitor Transplant in to the Degenerate Retina Does Not Compromise Initial Graft Survival or Therapeutic Efficacy. PLoS One. 2015;4(1):7.
• Lu XH, Mattis VB, Wang N, Al-Ramahi I, van den Berg N, Fratantoni SA, Waldvogel H, Greiner E, Osmand A, Elzein K, Xiao J, Dijkstra S, de Pril R, Vinters HV, Faull R, Signer E, Kwak S, Marugan JJ, Botas J, Fischer DF, Svendsen CN, et al. Targeting ATM ameliorates mutant Huntington toxicity in cell and animal models of Huntington’s disease. Sci Transl Med. 2014;6(268):268ra178.