Gabriela Cezar, Ph.D.

Venture Partner

Latin America

Gabriela Cezar is co-founder and CSO of Stemina Biomarker Discovery and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she pioneered the application of metabolomics to stem cell biology. Her current research involves human embryonic stem (hES) cells, cancer stem cells, and cells derived from hES cells such as neurons, cardiomyocytes, and hepatocyte-like cells. In addition, Dr. Cezar heads the Stem Cell Safety Sciences Lab at UW and is a scientific collaborator with WiCell Research Institute. Overall, her research program is focused on unraveling biochemical pathways of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and cancer.

Prior to joining the faculty at UW-Madison in 2005, Dr. Cezar served as a senior principal scientist at Pfizer, working on global projects to incorporate stem cells in drug discovery and toxicology. In her role at Pfizer, Dr. Cezar also developed in vivo models (genetically modified mice) for target validation in multiple therapeutic areas. Overall, she has extensive experience on integration and application of molecular technologies to pharmaceutical discovery and development.

Dr. Cezar is a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Genetics Policy Institute, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a positive legal framework to advance stem cell research, as well as other stem cell-related organizations and patient advocacy groups. She is an internationally renowned invited speaker at numerous conferences.