Neuroscience and Industry Leaders Join Nonprofit to Battle Leading Genetic Killer of Babies
The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a treatment and potential cure for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic killer of infants and toddlers, announces that two new members have joined its Scientific Advisory Board today. The new members are Geoffrey Duyk, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director of TPG Ventures and Gerald Fischbach, M.D., Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Columbia University Medical Center.
New York, NY (PRWEB) June 24, 2004 -- The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation,
a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a treatment and potential cure for
spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic killer of infants and
toddlers, announces that two new members have joined its Scientific Advisory
Board today. The new members are Geoffrey Duyk, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director
of TPG Ventures and Gerald Fischbach, M.D., Executive Vice President and Dean of
the Faculty of Columbia University Medical Center.
“We are honored to
have such an experienced and diverse group of people join us in our work to
develop treatments for spinal muscular atrophy,” said Loren Eng, SMA
Foundation’s co-founder and president. “The addition of the new advisors, drawn
from Industry and Academia will expand upon the expertise of our existing
Scientific Advisory Board members, who are leaders in spinal muscular atrophy
research.”
Geoffrey Duyk, M.D., Ph.D., is Managing Director of Life
Sciences at TPG Ventures. Prior to joining TPG Ventures in 2004, he served on
the Board of Directors and was President of Research and Development at Exelixis
where he led a 550+ person group focused on the discovery and development of
small molecule therapeutics. Prior to Exelixis, he was one of the founding
scientific staff at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Previous to that, Dr. Duyk was
an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in the Department of
Genetics and Assistant Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI). While at HMS, he was a Co-Principal Investigator in the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Cooperative Human Linkage Center. Dr. Duyk has
been and continues to be a member of numerous NIH panels and oversight
committees focused on the planning and execution of the human genome project.
Dr. Duyk received his doctorate in biochemistry and medical degree from Case
Western Reserve University and completed his medical and fellowship training at
the University of California, San Francisco.
Gerald Fischbach, M.D., is
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Dean of the
Faculties of Health Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Dr. Fischbach received his
medical degree from Cornell University Medical School in New York and interned
at the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Throughout his
career as a scientist and mentor, Dr. Fischbach has studied the formation and
maintenance of synapses, the junctions between nerve cells and their targets
through which information is transferred and has trained a remarkable cadre of
neuroscientists. Dr. Fischbach served as Director of the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health from 1998 to
2001. He is a past-President of the Society for Neuroscience and now serves on
several medical and scientific advisory boards. He is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of
Medicine and he is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science and a non-resident Fellow of the Salk Institute.
About Spinal
Muscular Atrophy:
Spinal muscular atrophy is a genetic, motor neuron disease
characterized by the wasting of skeletal muscles. Caused by progressive
degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord, the disease leads to increasing
muscular weakness and atrophy. Over time, its victims continue to lose muscle
control and strength, leading to progressive inability to walk, stand, sit up
and eventually move. More than 50% of patients with SMA die before the age of
two.
About the SMA Foundation:
The SMA Foundation is a nonprofit
organization founded in 2003 dedicated to finding a treatment and potential cure
for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) through funding the implementation and
advancement of clinical research into the disease. In addition, the Foundation
is committed to raising awareness, education and increased federal funding and
support. For more information on the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, visit
www.smafoundation.org or call (646) 253-7100.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/6/prweb136519.htm