Travis Byrd, Ph.D
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Columbus, OH - USA
The International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy’s prestigious Le Prix Luc Sensebé in Innovation and Leadership Award honors those who build and lead multidisciplinary teams that bring cell and gene therapies from concept to patients. The 2025 recipient, Dr. Allen C. Eaves, MD, PhD, exemplifies these principles through a career dedicated to collaboration, sustainable infrastructure development, and clinical translation.
A pioneer in the field, Dr. Eaves co-founded the Terry Fox Laboratory in 1981 with his wife, Dr. Connie Eaves, and served as the lab’s director for 25 years. During his tenure as director, he fostered collaboration between clinicians and scientists to drive innovation in hematopoietic stem cell research and leukemia treatment. As Head of Hematology at the University of British Columbia and the BC Cancer Agency, he established Canada’s first large-scale bone marrow transplant program. In 1993, Dr. Eaves founded STEMCELL Technologies after seeing the need within the cancer research community. Dr. Eaves still serves as the company’s President and CEO and under his guidance, it has expanded and grown into one of Canada’s largest biotech companies, with more than 2,000 employees, with sales offices in 20 countries and distributors in 70 countries, where the company helps to sustain and scale global research efforts.
Throughout his career, Dr. Eaves has consistently brought together successful multidisciplinary teams, built sustainable research and clinical infrastructure, and facilitated the translation of advanced cell technologies into much needed patient therapies. His leadership has also extended to professional societies, having served as President of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Dr. Eaves continues to inspire the cell and gene therapy field, a visionary who has seamlessly turned his passion for cancer research into both a successful clinical career in patient care, and a successful entrepreneurship career helping other scientists achieve success in their own cancer research. The ISCT award is a fitting tribute to a lifetime of innovation, leadership and impact—Congratulations to Dr. Eaves for this well-deserved honor!
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