Our Story
Milton Wexler with daughters Alice and Nancy
Our unique approach to searching for a cure began in 1968 when Dr. Milton Wexler established the Hereditary Disease Foundation after his wife Leonore was diagnosed with HD. Their daughters Alice and Nancy were at risk.
Nancy with Venezuelan HD family tree which eventually included over 18,000 individuals spanning 10 generations
From 1979 to 2002, Dr. Nancy Wexler led a team of medical researchers to Venezuela, which has the world’s highest prevalence of HD, to gather clinical data working with thousands of HD patients and their families.
The Gene Hunters
In 1983, the HDF formed the Gene Hunters, a collaboration of 100 international scientists who, a decade later, identified the Huntington’s disease gene using this information. This stunning discovery has laid the foundation for all research on HD. Now various techniques, such as gene silencing and gene editing, are being studied and developed. With several clinical trials in humans now underway and others on the horizon, this is the critical moment to change the future.
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