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IN
MEMORY OF MILTON WEXLER |
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© Mariana Cook 1992
March 20, 2007
Dearest Friends and Family,
An unimaginable day has finally
arrived.
Dr. Milton Wexler, a force of nature
whose visionary presence changed hundreds of thousands
of lives for the better, died Friday, March 16, 2007 of
respiratory failure.
As he himself said, “I’ve had
a very good ride through this life.”
Even though he died at age 98 and a half,
he was as innovative, lucid, imaginative, creative and
ahead of the curve as he was as a young man – he
only got better with age! We want another century with
him, at least – we miss him terribly.
In lieu of flowers, please send contributions
to the Hereditary Disease Foundation, the organization
Milton founded in 1968. For the past 40 years, he has
been passionately devoted to finding cures for Huntington's
disease and related disorders.
Donations made payable to the Hereditary
Disease Foundation can be mailed to the Hereditary Disease
Foundation, 3960 Broadway, 6th floor, New York, NY 10032.
Contributions by credit card can be made online on the
Hereditary Disease Foundation website – www.hdfoundation.org.
Affectionately,
Nancy and Alice Wexler
Click here to read Milton's obituaries. |
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Download the entire Summer 2007 newsletter as a PDF file now.
Table of contents includes:
- HDF Chairman Milton Wexler Tribute
- HDF President Nancy Wexler Receives Franklin Institute Award
- HDF Trustee Julie Andrews Helps Fight to Cure Huntington's Disease
- 2007 HDF Workshop Updates
- HDF Welcomes New Members of the Scientific Advisory Board
- HDF Fundraising News
- HDF Scientific Advisory Board News
- 2007 HDF Science Funding
- Your Legacy Today Advances the Science of Tomorrow
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| Hereditary
Disease President Nancy Wexler to Receive Benjamin Franklin
Medal in Life Science!
For 182 years,
The Franklin Institute has honored the greatest men and
women of science, engineering, and technology. The Franklin
Institute Awards are among the oldest and most prestigious
comprehensive science awards in the world.
Nancy Wexler featured in Monday, 4/23/07, Philadelphia
Inquirer.
Among science's highest honors, The Franklin Institute
Awards identify individuals whose great innovation has
benefited humanity, advanced science, launched new fields
of inquiry, and deepened our understanding of the universe.
HDF
Leadership—President Nancy Wexler and Lifetime Director
Julie Andrews featured in the March/April 2007 issue of
Neurology Now magazine.
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| March 18, 2007
Sunday New York Times'
front page article about one young woman's experience
in testing positive for Huntington's disease "Confronting
Life With a Lethal Gene," by Amy Harmon.
Hereditary Disease Foundation
President Nancy
Wexler is quoted in the beginning of the article.
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Hereditary
Disease Foundation Workshop Report Now Available!
January 20–21, 2007
Pipelines and Pathogenesis: New
Horizons, Santa Monica, California.
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Strategy to Find a Cure For Huntington’s Disease, Long-Supported
by Hereditary Disease Foundation, Is Validated by Nobel
Prize!
Congratulations
to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello,
Scientists Who Discovered RNA Interference
Awarded 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine!
In October, Fire and Mello were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of an efficient and generalizable method for selectively turning off the expression of any gene in the nematode worm C. elegans. The method is known as RNA interference or RNAi. Fire and Mello published their groundbreaking discovery in the journal Nature in February of 1998. Since that time, RNAi has been shown to be an effective method for turning off the expression of genes in a wide variety of plant and animal species, including humans. The RNAi technique is now widely used in academic and industrial research laboratories to study the function of genes and plans are underway to develop RNAi-based treatments for a wide variety of diseases, including Huntington’s disease (HD).
Spurred by the excitement generated by Fire and Mello’s
discovery, the Hereditary Disease Foundation began to
organize, champion and support the development of gene-based
therapy for HD and continues to be a leader in providing
funding for RNAi research.
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Hereditary
Disease Foundation Symposium
August 10–14, 2006
HD 2006: Changes, Advances and Good
News (CAG)n, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Symposium
Summary Report Now Available!
Scientists gathered to report promising
innovative strategies and potential future therapies for
Huntington’s disease and related disorders. Summary report,
written by HDF's science writer, Marina Chicurel, Ph.D.,
now available.
Recent
Science Funding Provided by the Hereditary Disease Foundation
Hereditary Disease Foundation grants,
postdoctoral fellowships and research contracts are helping
identify routes to the development of cures and treatments
for Huntington’s disease and other similar hereditary
disorders. With your support, the HDF’s Scientific
Advisory Board, comprised of world-renowned experts in
genetics, neurology, neuroscience, and therapy development,
has funded groundbreaking research.
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Praise for HDF |
Everything I know about genomics I learned first at Hereditary Disease Foundation workshops!
Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, National Human Genome Research Institute
Recipient, Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2007
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If one looks back in the development of human genetics in our
current form, I think the Hereditary Disease Foundation played really
the same role that the Rockefeller Foundation played in the 30s and 40s,
when it permitted the development of molecular biology. It was a small
group of people who weren't waiting around, but were giving money to
the right people, with the thought that it was sensible.
November 1, 2005
Dr. James D. Watson, Chancellor
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962
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Through the years, I have been blessed to work with superb and
dedicated people, and I count the three of you, Milton, Nancy and Alice
Wexler, to be at the top of that list.
Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director
National Human Genome Research Institute
National Institutes of Health
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Through the active recruitment of new ideas, new technologies and
new researchers, the Hereditary Disease Foundation has set the stage for
important progress in our understanding of HD pathology. Their commitment
to collaboration and community building within the HD field serves as a
model for all scientific groups tackling human diseases.
Nature Medicine, October 2000
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