The Ivan Damjanov Lecture in Stem Cell Research is sponsored by the Ivan Damjanov Lectureship Fund, the Institute for Reproductive and Developmental Sciences , and the Bohan Visiting Professor Program.

Keynote Lecturers

April 25, 2024

Andras Nagy, Ph.D.
Shawn Kimel Senior Scientist
Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System
Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto
Professor at the Autralian Regenerative Medicine Institute in Monash University, Melbourn

"Translating Stem Cell Biology: Unlocking Future Cell Therapies"

April 27, 2023

Emery Bresnick, Ph.D.
Gary Felsenfeld Professor of Cell and Regenerative Biology; Lowell and Gwendolyn Smythe Endowed Professor; Director, UW-Madison Blood Cancer Research Program

"From Human Genetics to Stem Cell and Cancer Mechanisms"

June 2, 2022

Robert Blelloch, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Urology; Ob/Gyn & Reproductive Sciences; Pathology
Peter R. Carroll, M.D., MPH, Endowed Chair
Associate Chair Basic Science Research, Dept of Urology

"Dissecting the placenta one cell at a time"

December 9, 2021

Terry Magnuson, Ph.D.
Kay M. & Van L. Weatherspoon Eminent Distinguished Professor
Vice Chancellor for Research
University of North Carolina School of Medicine

"Genome-Wide Dynamics of Chromatin Modifiers"

April 30, 2020

POSTPONED TO 2021

April 25, 2019

Davor Solter, M.D., Ph.D.
Emeritus Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Germany
Visiting Professor, Mahidol University, Thailand

"Epigenetic Controls of Early Mammalian Development"

To donate to this event visit KUendowment.org/IRHRM

Ivan Damjanov Biography

Ivan Damjanov, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Pathology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas.

Dr. Damjanov graduated from the University of Zagreb Medical School, Zagreb, Croatia in1964, where he also started his initial postgraduate training in Pathology and received a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology. Upon immigration to the United States, he served on the teaching staff of several Medical Schools and in 1994 joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Kansas, where he still works as a Professor of Pathology and Attending Pathologist in the University of Kansas Hospital.

Dr. Damjanov's scientific work concentrated primarily on experimental germ cell tumors and embryonic stem cell neoplasia. Clinically he is most interested in tumor and urogenital pathology. Dr. Damjanov has authored over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has written numerous review articles, editorials and book reviews. He served during the 1985-1995 period as reviewer for several Study Sections of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, M.D., and still serves as a consultant for the Portuguese Cancer Institute, IPATIMUP, Porto, Portugal.

He has published more than 20 medical books and textbooks. Most notably he served as Editor of the 10^th Edition of Anderson's Pathology (Mosby, St Louis), and his book Pathology for Health Professions (Saunders-Elsevier, Philadelphia) has reached its third edition. He served on the editorial board of several biomedical journals such as Human Pathology, Virchows Archiv, Modern Pathology, Pathology Research, and Practice, In vitro and International Journal of Developmental Biology. Furthermore, he served for 12 years as the Associate Editor of the journal Laboratory Investigation, and for 10 years as the North American Editor of the journal Differentiation.

Currently, Dr. Damjanov is involved predominantly in pathology service at the University of Kansas Hospital and teaching medical students and residents of the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He also participates in collaborative research projects with hepatologists and developmental biologists. The main topics of this research include testicular germ cell tumors, tumor markers, and murine and human embryonic stem cells.