Geron Corporation (Nasdaq:GERN) today announced the appointment of Karin Eastham to its board of directors. Ms. Eastham will also serve as chair of the company’s audit committee.

Karin Eastham currently serves on the boards of directors for several life science companies, including Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Illumina, Inc. and Genoptix, Inc. She is also on the board of the Corporate Directors Forum, which focuses on promoting best practices in corporate governance. Past directorships include SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tercica, Inc., Molecular Probes, Inc. and Salmedix, Inc. Ms. Eastham most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer and a member of the board of trustees of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. She previously served as senior vice president of finance, chief financial officer, and secretary of Diversa Corporation and held senior management positions with CombiChem, Inc., Cytel Corporation and Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics. Ms. Eastham earned her B.S. in Accounting and M.B.A in Finance from Indiana University and is a certified public accountant and a certified director.

“I am pleased to welcome Ms. Eastham to our board of directors,” said Thomas B. Okarma, Ph.D., M.D., Geron’s president and chief executive officer. “Karin brings to the board over 30 years of experience in the financial and operations management of life science companies and we look forward to her advice and counsel.”

Ms. Eastham will join Geron’s existing board members: board chair Alexander E. Barkas, Ph.D., Edward V. Fritzky, Charles J. Homcy, M.D., Thomas D. Kiley, Patrick J. Zenner and Geron’s president and CEO, Thomas B. Okarma.

About Geron

Geron is developing first-in-class biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer and chronic degenerative diseases, including spinal cord injury, heart failure and diabetes. The company is advancing an anti-cancer drug and a cancer vaccine that target the enzyme telomerase through multiple clinical trials. Geron is also the world leader in the development of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based therapeutics. The company has received FDA clearance to begin the world’s first human clinical trial of a hESC-based therapy: GRNOPC1 for acute spinal cord injury. For more information about Geron, visit www.geron.com.