The best way to understand how rare disease impacts patients and families is to listen. Dr. Susan Waisbren, a clinical psychologist, has seen this firsthand.
Read More
Learn about Dr. Rohit Aggarwal’s efforts in creating more centers of excellence for myositis, as well as educating, empowering, and connecting patients to clinical trials.
Read More
When it comes to complex, rare diseases, most people don’t think “dermatology.” But they should, says Prince Adotama, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and faculty member at NYU. Dr. Adotama specializes in skin of color care and skin autoimmune disorders, including rare bullous disorders.
Read More
Jessica Duis, MD is more than a pediatric geneticist. She’s a partner and friend to children and adults who have Angelman, dup15q, and other related syndromes. Throughout her career, she has noticed a need for patients and their families to find community and support within the walls of the hospitals and clinics where they spend so much time.
Read More
Learning that your child has a rare genetic disorder is a profound moment for any parent. But imagine finding out for the first time that you have the same disorder too. That was the scenario Becky Tilley faced the day she learned that she, her infant son, and her then-unborn baby all have Koolen-de Vries Syndrome.
Read More
Joshua Owens, MD, is a genetics resident at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Through his work, he encounters families seeking answers to the range of mysterious symptoms and diseases that have genetic origins. Read on to learn about the types of genetic testing that are available today, as well as the benefits and risks of testing.
Read More
Anne-Marie McIntyre is a clinical research coordinator and research assistant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Learn more about her educational and professional pathway, which led her to specialize in mitochondrial disease, and her work in research.
Read More
Dr. Pushpa Narayanaswami is a neurologist based in Boston, Massachusetts. At the core of her work is to help patients live each day a little better and aid them to achieve their goals of care together. Read on to discover what led her to pursue her field of study and where she sees rare disease research going in the next few years.
Read More
At only four years old, Jeremy Lankford already knew that he wanted to be a neurologist. Today, that dream has come true, but what makes that reality even sweeter for the now-veteran physician is that his expertise is focused on improving the lives of kids just like that young version of himself.
Read More
Dr. Mary Kay Koenig is a physician with many interests, from chemistry to neurology to children's care—but at the beginning of her medical career, she never could have guessed that mitochondrial medicine would be the specialty where all of her passions intersected.
Read More
Bob Coughlin, who today serves as an advisor to life science companies, was never one for thinking small or limiting his ambitions for rare disease patients. Learn how he and his family overcame the obstacles of cystic fibrosis (CF), raising awareness and money to search for a cure.
Read More
Dr. Chapman is a leading expert in PA and serves as the director of the mitochondrial disorders clinic at Children’s National. Read on to learn more about Dr. Chapman’s work, and why she feels that clinical trials are a crucial pathway to rare disease therapies.
Read More
Dr. David Fajgenbaum was in his third year of medical school when a rare and mysterious illness derailed his plans. Crushing fatigue, abdominal pain, and multiple swollen lymph nodes progressed rapidly, and he found himself in the ICU with multiple system organ failure. Recovering from the brink of death, he was diagnosed with Castleman disease (CD), a rare condition that at the time was thought to be a lymph node disease with similarities to cancer.
Read More