Vice President and Research Director
Dr. David A. Prentice is Vice President and Research Director for the Charlotte Lozier Institute. He is also Adjunct Professor of Molecular Genetics at the John Paul II Institute, The Catholic University of America and an Advisory Board Member for the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center, a unique comprehensive stem cell center in Kansas that he was instrumental in creating. Previously he served over 10 years as Senior Fellow for Life Sciences at the Family Research Council, and prior to that he spent almost 20 years as Professor of Life Sciences at Indiana State University, and Adjunct Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine.
He established Stem Cell Research Facts, an educational website providing scientific facts and patient-centered videos about adult stem cells, and is a founding member of Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, and an advisory board member for the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. He has provided scientific advice for numerous medical professionals, legislators, policymakers and organizations at the state, federal, and international levels.
Dr. Prentice received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Kansas, and was at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Texas Medical School-Houston before joining Indiana State University where in addition to his research and teaching, he served as Acting Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and Assistant Chair of Life Sciences. He was recognized with the University’s Caleb Mills Distinguished Teaching Award and Faculty Distinguished Service Award. He has taught courses ranging from non-majors biology to advanced and graduate courses including developmental biology, embryology, cell and tissue culture, history of biology, science and politics, pathophysiology, medical genetics, and medical biochemistry. Several of his courses were also taught on-line.
He received the 2007 Walter C. Randall Award in Biomedical Ethics from the American Physiological Society, given for promoting the honor and integrity of biomedical science through example and mentoring in the classroom and laboratory. Dr. Prentice was selected by Taylor University to give the inaugural talk in 2014 when their campus-based Walter C. Randall Biomedical Ethics lecture series was re-initiated. He is an editorial board member for the Journal of Tissue Science & Engineering and is listed in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.
Dr. Prentice’s research interests encompass various aspects of cell growth control, cell and developmental biology; one major focus is adult stem cells. He has reviewed for various professional publications including The Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Prentice is an internationally-recognized expert on stem cell research and bioethics, and has provided scientific testimony before the U.S. Congress and numerous state legislatures, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the President’s Council on Bioethics, European Parliament, British Parliament, Canadian Parliament, Australian Parliament, German Bundestag, French Senate, Swedish Parliament, the United Nations, and the Vatican. He was selected by President George W. Bush’s U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics to write the comprehensive review of adult stem cell research for the Council’s 2004 publication “Monitoring Stem Cell Research.”
Dr. Prentice has published numerous scientific and bioethics articles, including a defense of adult stem cell treatments with extensive literature documentation published by the journal Science in 2007. He has also published numerous commentaries and op-eds, and travels nationally and internationally to give frequent invited lectures regarding stem cell research, cloning, bioethics, and public policy. He has been interviewed in virtually all major electronic and print media outlets, including CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CSPAN, Reuters, AP, NPR, USA Today, BBC, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.
