Deepak Srivastava, M.D. believes we’re at the cusp of rewriting how diseases will be cured. His own research drives his conviction – Srivastava serves as President of the Gladstone Institutes as well as Director of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center.
“We can envision a future where, for the first time in human history, we no longer have to accept our genetic destiny,” he said.
The Srivastava Lab at the Gladstone Institutes uncovers genetic causes for heart conditions such as valve defects and works to develop new therapies for heart disease. Much of Srivastava’s research centers on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), used to identify the genes behind these heart defects. That includes his most recent findings, published in Nature last fall, which identified the gene HMGN1 as a “key contributor” to Down syndrome-associated congenital heart defects.
While Srivastava is enthusiastic about the promise of therapies that cure a disease outright, like some gene therapies for sickle cell disease, he is concerned about the current reimbursement models. Because these therapies are given once rather than taken for years, companies struggle to recover their investment, and without a different reimbursement approach, he worries that early funding for these cures could disappear. As a physician, scientist, and founder of two companies, Srivastava understands both sides of the issue. He launched Tenaya Therapeutics in 2016, which focuses on cardiovascular research, and founded iPierian, Inc. in 2007, which used iPSC technology in treatment research. iPierian was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2014.
“It’s imperative that we solve how reimbursement models could change for these kinds of cell and gene therapies,” he said. “Otherwise what we’ll see is that we just won’t have early investment.”
Srivastava earned his B.S. from Rice University and his M.D. from the University of Texas, then continued his training at UCSF and at the Children’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. Before joining Gladstone he was a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and is the former president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.
Srivastava is a Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and the National Academy of Medicine, serves on the scientific advisory board for Tenaya Therapeutics.
We are delighted to welcome Dr. Srivastava to the DOC 2026 Faculty.