Dr. Rodney Howell is Chairman of the Board for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Professor of Pediatrics and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami.
On behalf of everyone at MDA and especially the families we serve, thank you for making 2017 a truly remarkable year.
After nearly 70 years and more than $1 billion in MDA research investments, groundbreaking treatments have become available for conditions that were not treatable when I was a resident.
Today, we can offer life-changing and lifesaving treatments to children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) that didn’t exist just a year or two ago. These new treatments are helping children maintain muscle strength and slow muscle decline. It is truly unprecedented.
As a physician and geneticist, the drug-development pipeline and clinical trials underway represent tremendous promise for more medical and scientific breakthroughs to transform and save lives.
MDA simply could not have made this possible without you.
Because of your support, 2018 is sure to be another remarkable year as we work together to advance research and care.
In research, we’re expanding our national neuromuscular disease registry that captures data to help scientists search for treatments and cures and connect more individuals with promising clinical trials. We also have more than 180 research projects underway around the world that I believe will hold answers for the next breakthroughs for our community.
To improve care, we’re working with neuromuscular disease leaders to advance genetic testing for newborns to ensure that babies with spinal muscular atrophy and Pompe disease are treated as quickly as possible after birth, when treatments are likely to provide the greatest benefit.
We are on the brink of changing the course of neuromuscular diseases forever. That’s why we must put the full force of our support behind these efforts now.
Thank you for your time, your donations, your support, your commitment and all you do to help MDA families. We look forward to fulfilling our promise of progress in 2018 and continuing with you on this unprecedented journey.
Help MDA continue to improve care for MDA families and fund research for neuromuscular diseases in 2018.
