George Eastwood | Executive Director
Emily Whitehead Foundation

George Eastwood is the Executive Director of the Emily Whitehead Foundation, an organization created by the Whitehead family after their daughter Emily became the first pediatric patient to receive CAR-T cell therapy. Under his leadership, the foundation is focused on expanding access to advanced therapies, influencing policy to remove barriers to care, and supporting patients and families throughout their treatment journey, work that builds on its original mission of funding groundbreaking research for less-toxic cancer treatments. A mission-driven innovator in cell and gene therapy, George has spent much of his career creating products, tools, and services to accelerate the development and delivery of cell-based therapeutics. As an early employee at HemaCare, he partnered with pioneering CAR-T companies like Kite and Novartis to help bring their therapies from development to commercialization. He later held leadership roles in the start-up space, including Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships at Kytopen and co-founder of Excellos, a cell and gene therapy company spun out of the San Diego Blood Bank. In addition to his role at the Emily Whitehead Foundation, George serves on the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, where he works alongside global leaders to advance policies, standards, and innovations that ensure more patients can benefit from next-generation therapies.