Study of California Stem Agency Likely to be Released in About a Month

The $700,000, Institute of Medicine performance study of the $3 billion California stem cell agency is expected to be released in late November or early December, the IOM said today.

In response to a question last week from the California Stem Cell Report, Christine Stencel, senior media relations officer for the IOM in Washington, D.C., briefly discussed the release plans and the impact of the East Coast super-storm.

Here is the text of her response:

“The DC area escaped the worst of Sandy’s thumping but nonetheless our schedules and planning have been somewhat thrown off as we’re playing catch up after two days of being shut down and some of our committee members and reviewers are in the areas that got the brunt of the storm. We’re not sure whether the storm will cause any delays in peer review, but we’re working toward the goal of publicly releasing the report in late November or early December. The study staff is working with committee members to determine the best release format but I anticipate there will be a press briefing. I’ll send a media advisory when we’ve got all the details worked out.”

The stem cell agency is paying for the report, which is examining the performance of the agency. The IOM began its work in the summer of 2011.