Ellen Feigal's Biography

Ellen Feigal, Senior Vice President, The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Dr. Ellen G. Feigal is the Senior Vice President, Research and Development at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Prior to joining CIRM in January, 2011, Dr. Feigal was Executive Medical Director, Global Development, at Amgen, where her primary focus was in clinical development of therapeutics in hematology/oncology. She also led the scientific/clinical interface with patient advocacy organizations, formalized the company’s policy on expanded access to therapies for those with limited or no treatment options, and led the cross-functional teams to the company’s first collaborative research and development agreement with the National Cancer Institute. From 2007 until joining CIRM, Dr. Feigal was adjunct professor and founding Director of the American Course on Drug Development and Regulatory Sciences, UC San Francisco, School of Pharmacy. The course, developed under her leadership as a collaborative effort with the FDA, UCSF’s Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, its Center for Drug Development Sciences and the European Center of Pharmaceutical Medicine at the University of Basel, was launched in 2007. It is taught in Washington, D.C. with a separate parallel course in San Francisco.

Prior to joining Amgen in 2008, she worked in clinical research and drug development in positions at the Federal Government, non-profit and for-profit institutes and companies. She was Chief Medical Officer, Insys Therapeutics 2007-2008, Director of Medical Devices and Imaging at the Critical Path Institute, and Vice President of Clinical Sciences and Deputy Scientific Director at the Translational Genomics Research Institute from 2004 to 2007. She directed the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis from 2001 to 2004, served as Deputy Director from 1997 through 2001, and as senior investigator in the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, NCI from 1992-1997. Dr. Feigal earned a BS in biology and a MS in molecular biology and biochemistry from the UC Irvine, and her MD from the UC Davis. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Stanford University, and her fellowship in hematology/oncology at the UC San Francisco. She was on the faculty at the UC San Francisco, and UC San Diego before joining the NCI.