Center for Genetic Medicine

A feature-length documentary film directed by Maria Finitzo and produced by Kartemquin Films

Terra Incognita: The Promise and Peril of Stem Cell Research offers a close-up look inside the life and laboratory of Dr. Jack Kessler — renowned stem cell expert and the head of neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. In 2001 Kessler’s 15-year-old daughter, Allison, fell while skiing, leaving her paralyzed below the waist. In response to her accident, Kessler changed the scientific focus of his lab to regenerating the damaged spinal cord. Exploring how the tightly bounded realms of professional science and private life can merge unexpectedly, Terra Incognita shows the awe-inspiring yet laborious workings of Kessler’s lab while exploring the stories of several lives, all profoundly altered and interrelated in unexpected ways by spinal cord injury and the quest for its cure.

Each event featured a film screening followed by a question and answer session with Dr. Kessler, bioethicist Dr. Laurie Zoloth, and film director Maria Finitzo.

Click on the link to view a clip from the film

(QuickTime Player required; download it for free here)

View links and resources on the web related to stem cell research

For more information about the film, please contact Justine Nagan at Kartemquin Films at 773.472.3348 or email her.