Michele Herndon’s son Mitchell began developing symptoms of an ultra-rare neurological condition in 2012. He went for five years without answers and in 2017, enrolled in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, an NIH-funded research study that seeks to diagnose people with the most puzzling conditions. He was diagnosed with the genetic disease Mitchell syndrome, which was named for him. He died from the disease in 2019. Herndon not only started the Mitchell & Friends Foundation but is today the program director of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network Foundation. There she has helped establish the UDNF’s new Patient Navigator Program, which is designed to answer general question undiagnosed patients may have, connect them to resources, and guide them through the UDN process. We spoke to Herndon and F. Sessions Cole, secretary of Undiagnosed Disease Network Foundation and professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, about the diagnostic odyssey, the work of the Undiagnosed Disease Network and the Undiagnosed Disease Network Foundation, and how the new Patient Navigator program works.
A Rare Disease Drug Developer Tries to Earn Its Stripes
Using Plasma to Treat Rare Diseases
Differentiating Gene Therapies through Regulatory Elements
How One Patient Organization Leverages Research Investments
Charging into the Storm
A Gene Therapy Developer that Embraces Different Models for Reaching Patients
Using Directed Evolution to Develop New Vectors for Genetic Medicines
Addressing a Shortage of Genetic Counselors with AI
A Small Molecule Therapy to Regenerate Muscle in People with DMD
Forging a Faster Path for Gene Therapies
Determining the Value of Rare Disease Therapies
Buying and Building a Gene Therapy Presence
A Clinical Trial Failure Derails a Promising Technology
Speeding and Scaling the Development of Genome Editing Therapies
Getting a Next-Generation Genome Editing Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease Back on Track
Trying to Break a Leg in a Wheelchair
A Drug Developer that Makes Pediatric Cancers a Priority
Harnessing the Body’s Natural RNA Machinery to Treat Diseases
Targeting the Leading Cause of Death in Friedreich’s Ataxia with a Gene Therapy
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