When Dr. Jack Kessler was invited to head up the Neurology Department at Northwestern, his focus was on using stem cells to help cure diabetes. Soon after his daughter Allison was injured in a skiing accident and paralyzed from the waist down, Dr. Kessler made the decision to change the focus of his research to begin looking for a cure for spinal cord injuries using embryonic stem cells. Winner of a 2009 Peabody Award.