By Teri Somers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
12:50 p.m. February 23, 2009
Claude Gerstle was a physician and athlete until a bicycling accident left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Rather than wait helplessly for a cure or a miracle, Gerstle and his daughter, Jessica, a former Dateline NBC producer set out with a camera to understand the promise of stem cell research and how the political debate has impacted what many see as promising science.
Their very personal 90-min. documentary on the stem cell debate, “The Accidental Advocate,” will be shown for free tonight at the Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall at 7:30.
Together the father and daughter track down scientists, religious leaders and political proponents and opponents. The film takes them into laboratories in Southern California and the halls of Congress.
The screening is part of national campaign that aims to keep the issue fresh in the minds of Americans, as the country waits to see whether President Obama will lift the funding limitations on the research that were put in place by President Bush.
Local stem cell research advocates from the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine will be on hand to answer questions and discuss what is happening with the science and their plans to build a new taxpayer-supported research facility in Torrey Pines.
Also attending to discuss the film after the screening will be the filmmaker, Jessica Gerstle, and local stem cell scientists and policy makers.
“This is a powerful, provocative film meant to raise awareness and educate about the promise of stem cells,” said Louis Coffman, vice president of the Sanford Consortium, whose members include the Salk Institute, the Burnham Institute, the Scripps Research Institute and the University of California San Diego.
Sponsors of the film include Lisa and Steve Altman and the San Diego Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the San Diego Women’s Film Foundation.
