KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Bernama) -- Following SOLVE FSHD’s recent acclaimed launch, the organisation has formally announced the appointment of Dr Eva Chin as the Executive Director.
SOLVE FSHD’s Founder, Chip Wilson, has personally committed US$100 million to find a cure for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a rare disease he was diagnosed with at age 32. (US$1 = RM4.381)
As the inaugural Executive Director for SOLVE FSHD, Dr Chin will be responsible for aligning the organisation’s goals with the expertise of researchers, scientists and companies to promote and fund the discovery and development of new therapies for FSHD.
“Dr Chin’s experience and specialisation in rare neuromuscular diseases add immense value to our organisation. We are excited to gain her expertise and guidance to achieve the organisation’s goal of finding a cure for FSHD by December 2027,” said Wilson, a Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist in a statement.
“Within just a few weeks of the organisation’s launch, SOLVE FSHD has received a tremendous response to the call for qualified grant applications and new therapeutic technologies, which will be reviewed under Dr Chin’s leadership.
“In addition, she has worked tirelessly to build strong industry alliances for SOLVE FSHD, closely assessed the exciting projects to fund and facilitated collaborative funding opportunities across the academic and industry sectors in FSHD research and drug development.” he added.
Dr Chin obtained her Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Waterloo in Canada and completed post-doctoral training at the University of Sydney, Australia and U.T. Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, focusing on intracellular calcium in muscle fatigue and transcriptional regulation of gene expression in muscle fibre type determination and muscle plasticity.
“I am honoured to join the Solve FSHD team, supporting Chip and the Wilson Family in our mission to improve the quality of life for those affected by rare neuromuscular diseases by funding qualified research projects and pre-clinical and clinical research that will accelerate finding a cure for FSHD,” she said.
Her career has spanned the academic and pharmaceutical industries, with previous positions at Pfizer, the University of Maryland, MyoTherapeutics, Cytokinetics and NMD Pharma.
Under Dr Chin’s guidance, Solve FSHD’s venture-philanthropic funding model will strategically utilise Wilson’s monetary commitment to support the initial grants, investments in early-stage companies focused on FSHD and to incentivise pharmaceutical companies in the neuromuscular disease space to increase their focus on FSHD.
Future announcements for grant funding will be issued on SOLVE FSHD’s website - https://solvefshd.com/.
-- BERNAMA
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