ISCT-Webinar: Protecting Patients From Stem Cell Fraud
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Non-regulated and unproven stem cell therapies continue to pose risks to patients, and aggressive and deceptive marketing tactics often blur the line between hope and fraud. In this webinar, you will gain insights from a landmark class action lawsuit against a clinic that falsely claimed to regenerate lung tissue. Despite lacking scientific evidence, the clinic used deceptive marketing to mislead patients—until legal action shut it down and secured a multi-million-dollar verdict for those affected. This session will also explore the vital role of scientific and medical experts in litigation. Learn how researchers and clinicians can contribute to legal proceedings, provide expert opinions, and uphold ethical standards in the rapidly evolving field of cell and gene therapy. We will discuss the litigation process, protections for expert witnesses, and how expert testimony can safeguard patient trusts and drive regulatory improvements.
Daniel J. Weiss
ISCT President-Elect 2024-2026 Professor of Medicine Affiliate Professor of Bioengineering
University of Vermont
Daniel Weiss began his education at Cornell University studying Anatomy and Physiology/ Biology where he graduated Cum Laude with his bachelor's degree in 1981. He then began pursuing his PhD and MD at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York where he graduated in 1988 and received a doctoral dissertation award for “Thesis of Unusual Distinction”. His work brought him from New York to Seattle, Washington where he worked in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington. He later moved to the University of Vermont to work as an assistant and associate professor in cell and molecular biology up until he became a professor in the department of medicine in 2011. Dr. Weiss currently works as a pulmonary and critical care specialist and splits his time between leading his research team in several projects in the Weiss Laboratory and working at the hospital doing clinical work. Through his time working in research and academia, he has been able to obtain many research grants to continue his work on improving the lung health of patients. One of his more notable grants was recently awarded to focus on lung damage caused by COVID-19 which is a vital area of study now and looking forward to the future. Many of his works have been published and most significantly, was his work on stem cells and cell therapies in lung biology and lung diseases. Weiss’s passion for improving the health of patients afflicted with lung diseases has pushed him to bring together the great minds of a team of engineers, scientists, and laboratory specialists to better understand the physiology of these diseases and to create advanced therapies to help treat and prevent them.
Ben Vinson
CEO and Attorney
Vinson Law
Ben A. Vinson, Jr. has over a decade of experience working in asbestos law, beginning his career at Fleming & Associates in Houston, TX. At Fleming & Associates, Ben began work as a law clerk in December 2009, eventually working as an investigator in May 2011. In April 2012, Ben was admitted to practice law in the state of Florida, and in July 2012, he left Fleming and Associates and formed his own practice, Vinson Law P.A., and continued working in asbestos-related law.
Ben earned his J.D. from the South Texas College of Law in May 2011, notably finishing the program 6 months ahead of schedule. Ben also competed in Mock Trial Summer Academy at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Texas in May 2003. Ben is also a 2013 graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College.
In February 2014, Ben opened his practice further to begin working on auto collision and personal injury cases, and in April 2014 was admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Ben is a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), as well as a member of the AAJ’s Asbestos Litigation Group, the Florida Justice Association, and the Tampa Bay Trial Lawyer’s Association.
In October 2016, Ben obtained a 3.4 million dollar Hillsborough County, Florida jury verdict. His client had suffered a traumatic brain injury when rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. Also in 2016, Ben filed a class action suit on behalf of allegedly defrauded patients of the Lung Institute. On December 1, 2019, the Washington Post‘s lead story in its print edition was about the case. In 2020, Ben Vinson and co-counsel achieved class certification status on behalf of over 900 deceived former patients.
In 2017, Ben Vinson was named US Supreme Court Bar Member & “Officer of the Court”.
In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Ben was awarded the distinction of being a Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyer for the State of Florida. Membership in the Top 40 Under 40 association is by invitation only and is extended exclusively to those individuals who exemplify superior qualifications, trial results, and leadership as a Civil Plaintiff trial lawyer. Selection is based on a thorough multi-phase objective process which includes peer nominations combined with third-party research.
In 2018, Ben was awarded a lifetime achievement award for the Northern Florida region from America’s Top 100 Attorneys.
In 2019, Attorneys Ben and co-counsel Mark Alonzo won a multimillion dollar mesothelioma verdict in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With the help of the firm’s head Asbestos Paralegal, Lauren Zoons, they were able to receive a 2 million dollar verdict in favor of Mrs. Sylvia Holder, widow of deceased Navy Machinist Mate Mr. Ernest Holder.
In 2019, Ben Vinson was selected to the 2019 Florida Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. No more than five percent of the lawyers in Florida are selected by Super Lawyers and no more than 2.5 percent are named to the Rising Stars list. Super Lawyers evaluates outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement by using a patented multi-phase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area.
Ben gained entry in to the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum in 2017. Established in 2007, the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum is one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won verdicts of two million dollars or more. Ben was awarded entry in 2017, and qualified again in 2019.
Ben has Avvo rating of 10. Over the course of 12 years Vinson Law has grown to fifty staff serving over two thousand injured clients. We are fulfilled by primarily helping the elderly, and over half our clients are Veterans or their families. Our mission is helping others then ourselves, and we strive relentlessly to deliver on that purpose.
On June 14, 2024 the Vinson Law trial team including Mark Alonzo, Lauren Zoons, Melissa Inch, Steve Barnes, and Ben Vinson secured a nine million dollar verdict on behalf of 1052 class members against the Lung Institute: Class Action Against Lung Institute Ben competed in an IRONMAN triathlon, clocking in at a little less than fifteen hours. In 2023 Ben became a Certified Ultramarathoner. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his sons Ben Andrew III, Smith, and Davis Vinson, and his wife Megan.
Bambi Grilley
ISCT Chief Regulatory Officer Director, Clinical Research and Early Product Development Center for Cell and Gene Therapy Professor, Pediatrics
Baylor College of Medicine
For over 30 years, Bambi Grilley has worked primarily in the field of Clinical Research, focused predominately on oncology. She worked in and supervised the lnvestigational Drug Pharmacy at MD Anderson Cancer Center for 10 years and following that, she accepted a position as the Administrator of the IRB and IACUC at Baylor College of Medicine and served in that position for 2 years. For 25 years she served on the BCM IRB and for the majority of that time, as a vice-Chair. She is currently a Professor, Pediatrics at BCM and the Director of Clinical Research and Early Product Development for the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy where she is responsible for coordinating the development, implementation, and conduct of clinical research protocols for use in four affiliated hospitals and institutions. Her expertise has helped to establish the Protocol Review Committees, the Data Review Committees, the Clinical Research Quality Control Program and the Clinical Research Quality Assurance Program. In the 26 years she has been with CAGT, she has assisted investigators in conducting over 2000 clinical research studies and the submission of 113 Investigator Initiated, cell/gene therapy related INDs and currently, 29 of those clinical research treatment studies are active with CAGT.
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