John D. Gearhart, Ph.D., is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Director of the Stem Cell Program, Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Baltimore, MD, USA. He is Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Physiology, and Comparative Medicine in the Johns Hopkins University School of School of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Gearhart earned his doctorate at Cornell University, had fellowship training with Beatrice Mintz at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1979. Dr. Gearhart is a developmental geneticist and his research over the past two decades has been directed at an understanding the molecular and cellular basis of human embryonic development. He has over 240 research publications in developmental genetics. Dr. Gearhart is a leader in the development and use of human reproductive technologies and in the genetic engineering of cells. In 1998, Dr. Gearhart and his research team at Johns Hopkins published a report on the derivation of pluripotent stem cells from human embryos. These cells have the capacity to form all cell types and tissues present in the human body and are considered a major starting point for the development of a wide variety of cell-based therapies in the new field of regenerative medicine. Dr. Gearhart's current research is focused on the basic science of stem cells, stem cell specialization, and the generation cell-based therapies for several diseases and injuries, including juvenile diabetes, metabolic diseases of the liver, motor neuron loss (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, and heart disease.