It’s traditional this time of year to send messages of gratitude to friends and family and colleagues. And we certainly have much to be thankful for.

Thanks to the voters of California, who passed Proposition 14, we have a bright, and busy, future. We have $5.5 billion to continue our mission of accelerating stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.

That means the pipeline of promising projects that we have supported from an early stage can now apply to us to help take that work out of the lab and into people.

It means research areas, particularly early-stage work, where we had to reduce our funding as we ran out of money can now look forward to increased support.

It means we can do more to bring this research, and it’s potential benefits, to communities that in the past were overlooked.

We have so many people to thank for all this. The scientists who do the work and championed our cause at the ballot box. The voters of California who once again showed their support for and faith in science. And the patients and patient advocates, the reason we were created and the reason we come to work every day.

As Dr. Maria Millan, our President & CEO, said in a letter to our team; “We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.”  Here’s to the opportunities made possible by CIRM and for its continuation made possible by Prop 14!”

And none of this would be possible without the support of all of you. And for that we are truly Thankful.

From everyone at CIRM, we wish you a happy, peaceful and safe Thanksgiving.