Silicon Valley Rainbow Rotary Club

Topic Information
The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. In other words, The Rotary Foundation is the charitable funding vehicle for much of the work of Rotary.

About the speaker
A Rotarian since 2003, Jill served as Livermore Valley Club President in 2019-2020. She has also served as Assistant Governor for Area 4, Lieutenant Governor: Avenues of Service, and District Governor. Jill is a retired General Manager of Zone 7 Water Agency in Livermore and a former General Manager/Chief Engineer for Scotts Valley Water District. Her career in providing safe water, inspires her involvement in the Haiti National Clean Water Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy (HANWASH), a partnership with the WASH Rotary Action Group, other NGOs, and the government of Haiti.

Topic Information
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), California’s state cell and gene therapy research funding agency. The presentation will introduce who CIRM is, how it was established through voter initiatives, and the work it leads to advance stem cell and regenerative medicine research. Attendees will hear how CIRM accelerates therapeutic development and supports researchers, clinicians, and communities across the state. The session will also highlight CIRM’s real-world impact through powerful patient stories that demonstrate how its investments are changing lives.

About the speaker
Amy Adams is Senior Director of Communications at the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. In that role she helps the people in California understand how their tax dollars are accelerating promising discoveries for both common and rare diseases, training a regenerative medicine workforce, strengthening the state’s biotechnology economy, and expanding access to
transformative treatments. In her career Amy has helped tell stories about the critical role of biomedical research in people’s lives as a science journalist and in senior communications roles at both Stanford and CIRM. She is a passionate believer in the power of research to change lives.