Conference Speakers

Victor Dubowitz, United Kingdom
PhD, Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics, Imperial College

Emeritus Prof. Victor Dubowitz graduated in medicine from the University of Cape Town 1954 and went to the UK in 1956 for postgraduate study. He saw his first case of muscular dystrophy during a paediatric residency at Queen Mary's Hospital for Children in 1957, and has been involved in clinical and research aspects of muscle diseases ever since. He established a muscle research unit at the Hammersmith running in parallel with a clinical muscle program for diagnosis and treatment of muscle disorders in childhood. He has written a number of major textbooks, including Muscle Disorders in Childhood, Muscle Biopsy, A Practical Approach, and a Colour Atlas of Muscle Disorders in Childhood, as well as a monograph on the Floppy Infant. Victor is founding editor of the journal Neuromuscular Disorders [1991-] and foundation President of the World Muscle Society, founded in 1995. Since his official retirement in 1996, he has been Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics in Imperial College London, and still actively pursuing his muscle interests. Emeritus Prof. has also recently published his memoirs "Ramblings of a Peripatetic Paediatrician".

Steve Wilton, Australia
PhD, Associate Professor, Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute

Assoc. Prof. Steve Wilton completed his PhD in the pre-PCR era in the Biochemistry Department, University of Adelaide. He joined the Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute (University of Western Australia) in 1991, where he developed molecular diagnostic tests for many neuromuscular disorders. His group (Molecular Genetic Therapy) is pursuing antisense-oligomer based intervention on gene expression. Exon skipping, as a therapy for DMD, shows great promise and is undergoing clinical trials. He is in charge of the Molecular Research Unit, which undertakes high through-put genotyping and expression studies, and is currently the vice president of the Australian Gene Therapy Society. Enjoys fishing, scuba diving, windsurfing, drinking wine, watching bad movies and plans to age ungracefully.

Jonathan Finder, USA
MD, Associate Professor of Paediatrics, Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh

Dr. Finder attended Yale University for his undergraduate education, then received his medical degree from the Albany Medical College. After graduating from Albany Medical College, Dr. Finder received his training in pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Finder also received his fellowship training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in pediatric pulmonology. He moved to Pittsburgh in 1993. Dr. Jonathan Finder is the first author of the American Thoracic Society's 2004 consensus statement on the respiratory care of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Dr. Finder is the Clinical Director of pediatric pulmonology at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He has received numerous awards for work as clinician and educator.

Kate Bushby, UK
MD, Professor, Newcastle University

Professor Kate Bushby is Chair of Neuromuscular Genetics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She is a clinician and researcher, with major interests in the limb-girdle muscular dystrophies, collagen VI related muscle diseases and translational research. With Professor Volker Straub she heads the EU network of excellence (TREAT-NMD) dedicated to the acceleration of therapy development in neuromuscular diseases. She is Research Director of the European Neuromuscular Centre, and Deputy Director of the MRC centre for Neuromuscular Diseases at London and Newcastle.

Larry Stern, USA
MD, Professor, Neurologist, University of Arizona College of Medicine

Lawrence Z. Stern, M.D. is Professor of Neurology and Director of MDA's Mucio F. Delgado Clinic for Neuromuscular Disorders at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson. He graduated from Columbia University's College of Physicians & Surgeons and did his Residency training at the University of California in San Francisco. Dr. Stern has authored or co-authored over 100 publications on neurological and neuromuscular diseases. His long association with the United States Muscular Dystrophy Association has included serving as a National Vice President, Director of Research and on the Board of Directors and Medical Advisory Committee.

Garth Nicholson, Australia
Professor, University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine

Garth Nicholson studied medicine at the University of Sydney. In 1971 he was an Honorary Neurology Registrar at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Garth trained in human biochemical genetics and in 1975 he completed PhD study at the University of Sydney on the development of the first radioimmunoassay for human creatine kinase.

After working in the Division of Neurobiology at Duke University in North Carolina, USA and then at the Muscular Dystrophy Research Laboratories in Newcastle, UK he returned to Sydney in 1979 where he took up a position as Neurology Registrar at Concord Hospital. Over the next decade he continued research work at the University of Sydney's Department of Medicine. His work on hereditary neuropathies extended the clinical research of Professor James McLeod. In 1993 he was appointed Associate Professor in the Department, which he remained until appointed Professor in 2003.

Garth's laboratory found genes causing hereditary pressure palsy and hereditary sensory neuropathy and were co-authors in the discovery of genes causing Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) neuropathy type 1A and intermediate CMT. In 2007 Garth's laboratory found that mutations in the gene for TDP-43 can cause both sporadic and familial motor neurone disease.

Garth was instrumental in the establishment of the world first CMT support organisation and CMT clinics. Presently he is assisting the establishment of an international CMT support and research organisation.

Since its inception in 1991, Nicholson has been Director of the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Concord Hospital. The laboratory established DNA collections for families with various hereditary neuromyopathies to locate genes causing these disorders.

Kathryn North, Australia
MD, Professor, University of Sydney

Professor North is the Douglas Burrows Professor of Paediatrics and Associate Dean of the Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, part of the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine.

Professor North trained as a paediatrician, neurologist and clinical geneticist. In 1994 she received a doctorate from the University of Sydney for Research into Neurogenetics. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. In 2000, she received the Sunderland Award from the Australian Neuroscience Society and was recently named Sutherland Lecturer for 2008 by the Human Genetics Society of Australasia in recognition of her outstanding research.

Professor North runs the Neuromuscular Service at the Children's Hospital which cares for ~1800 patients with neuromuscular disorders and their families.

Kathryn is also Head of the Neurogenetics Research Unit and Deputy Head of the Institute for Neuromuscular Research. Her research interests focus on the molecular basis of inherited muscle disorders and include clinical trials of therapies for muscular dystrophy.

Pat Furlong, USA
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, Cinicinnati

Patricia Furlong is founder and president of Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy; a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for research and education for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In 2001, Ms. Furlong testified at a Senate Appropriations Hearing which introduced the MD CARE ACT, mobilizing a grassroots advocacy effort which catalyzed that legislation. Ms. Furlong serves on the Muscular Dystrophy Coordinating Committee of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. In 2008, she received the prestigious Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award from Research!America. Ms. Furlong's dedication is in honor of her two sons, Christopher and Patrick, who continue to motivate her efforts.