David Schaffer is a highly accomplished chemical engineer and professor with a wealth of experience in stem cell biology and gene therapy. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his BS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. He has held various esteemed positions throughout his career, including being a former member of the Board of Directors at uniQure, co-founder of 4D Molecular Therapeutics, and co-chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at IGNITE Immunotherapy, Inc. Additionally, he currently holds the position of Professor and Director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focuses on the development of viral vector-based gene therapies that improve the performance of stem cell-based therapies for various diseases. He has also worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and was the Director of the Stem Cell Biological Engineering Training Program at NIH/Berkeley.