What We Do
Fund Groundbreaking Research
Foster Collaboration through Innovative Workshops
Focus Scientific Priorities through Global Symposia
Award the Leslie Gehry Brenner Prize for Innovation in Science
William Yang, Nancy Wexler and Alice Wexler in the Yang laboratory
The Hereditary Disease Foundation provides Grant and Postdoctoral Fellowship funding for research to advance the discovery and development of treatments for Huntington’s disease and other brain disorders. We are passionate about finding and funding the most promising, creative and paradigm-changing research possible.
HDF’s Scientific Advisory Board is composed of 30 distinguished scientists from around the world, who set the scientific priorities for the Foundation. Every year the Board reviews over 100 Grant and Postdoctoral Fellowship applications and selects the most groundbreaking research projects for funding. Many members of our Board and other prominent scientists began their careers with a grant from the HDF and have dedicated their life’s work to studying HD and other related disorders.
HDF Postdoctoral Fellowships fund the work of young, promising scientists. These fellowships are intended to cultivate interest in Huntington’s disease research by encouraging these bright scientists early in their careers. HDF awards 2-year fellowships for up to $100,000 per year.
HDF Grants provide more experienced researchers with the seed funding to enable them to collect the preliminary data needed to obtain major, long-term funding from other organizations, including the National Institutes of Health. HDF awards 1-year grants for $100,000.
Foster Collaboration through Innovative Workshops
Robert Bazell, David Housman, Francis Collins and Anne Young
HDF founder Milton Wexler developed the unique Workshop Program which remains a centerpiece of the Hereditary Disease Foundation today. Our Workshops bring together small groups of scientists from different disciplines to brainstorm, without prepared slides or lectures, and to explore new directions for research. Scientists are urged to collaborate, share unpublished data, and set aside competitive barriers and egos to work together to find solutions. With over 50 years of experience hosting workshops, HDF understands that complex problems are solved and cures are discovered when scientists cooperate. Participants often come away from Workshops with new ideas and the impetus to apply for HDF funding. The HDF Workshops have critically changed the paths of many scientific careers – capturing imaginations to study genes and the brain.
Focus Scientific Priorities through Global Symposia
The HDF's Milton Wexler Celebration of Life Symposium brings together some 300 investigators from across the globe every two years, to share their latest findings, and explore cutting-edge approaches to research. For three days, the world’s foremost experts in HD and other neurological diseases present unpublished research discoveries, enabling broader understanding of HD and sparking discussions of new ways to design and create therapies. Our symposia inspire investigators to collaborate, often forming extraordinary partnerships, in their quests to finding treatments and cures for HD and other brain disorders.
Scientist presenting unpublished research
Each year, the Hereditary Disease Foundation presents the prestigious Leslie Gehry Prize for Innovation in Science. This annual award of $100,000 was created by HDF Founding Director and world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and his family to honor the memory of his late daughter, a gifted artist, painter, photographer, and filmmaker.
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