LAUSR

Regenerative medicine is often celebrated for its potential to both enhance our understanding of human development and improve clinical options for a wide range of conditions. However, the field is not without its challenges including various policy issues such as, for example, questions about how best to regulate this fast-moving field of research [1]. In many cases, the policy issues associated with different areas of regenerative medicine are highly complex and engage a wide variety of potential stakeholders including governments, scientists, research institutions, industry and patients, among others, many of whom have varied and sometimes competing perspectives and priorities. Addressing these multifaceted policy challenges in a way that balances the diverse interests at play, while also supporting the long-term health of this promising field, is not an easy task. It requires effective stakeholder education and engagement strategies which are, we suggest, areas about which there is much to learn. In this brief commentary, we discuss public information campaigns and network governance strategies and consider the potential value they may bring to addressing complex policy challenges in the field of regenerative medicine. Our goal is to contribute to and encourage discussion and further research in this area. We will use the market for unproven stem cell interventions as an example of the kind of wicked policy issue in the regenerative medicine sphere that may benefit from advancing understanding of how to effectively disseminate information and encourage public engagement.