One-on-One with Roman Reed, spinal cord injury patient advocate

Roman Reed.

The community of patient advocates is full of the most passionate, goal-oriented people you'll ever meet, and Roman Reed is near the top of the list. Reed, paralyzed in 1994 from a tackle during a Chabot College football game, has been one of the most visible advocates for stem cell research fundingthrough the San Francisco-basedCalifornia Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM. He also was a poster child for a state law passed a law in 2000 to fund spinal injury paralysis research through the state's general fund. But in the course of California's budget meltdown, desperate state officials took away the spinal cord research funds. Reed launched a new effort, resulting in Assembly Bill 1657, that would add just $1 from every moving traffic violation to fund spinal cord injury research in California. That bill, authored by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, passed the Assembly on a 46-26 vote and the state Senate is expected to vote Monday on the measure.