Richard H. Finnell is a Professor in the Department  of Nutritional Sciences and in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, and serves as the Director of Genomic Research at Dell Children’s Medical Center. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Shanghai Institute of Medical Genetics and Serves as the head of the CICbioGUNE research institute’s scientific advisory board in Bilbao, Spain, where he also holds a research appointment.  A pediatric geneticist, he has a distinguished career researching environmentally induced birth defects.  Dr. Finnell’s group applies stem cell technology to the detection of potential teratogenic compounds in efforts to prevent these birth defects, develops mouse models to understand the pathogenesis of the defects, and uses stem cells to approach novel means of treating these disabilities.