New Profiles for the Twenty Five Voices of Spinal Muscular Atrophy from Families of SMA.
January 18, 2010.

For the 25th Anniversary of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy we have been be spotlighting "25 Voices of SMA" throughout the year. These are profiles of families, clinicians and researchers from the SMA community.

The profiles released this month are from The Potter Family and Jim Rusche, Ph.D.

Click here to see the full profiles.

The Potter Family
“We are the Potter family of Massachusetts.  Mark & Laurie, Murphy (5 years old), Anders (2 years old), and Marshall (forever 4 months & 6 days old). 

Our purpose in life has been defined by spinal muscular atrophy, and of course by our little boy Marshall.  For someone so young who never spoke a word, he has been our greatest teacher.”

Jim Rusche, Ph.D.
“I am a scientist and administrator at a biopharmaceutical company, Repligen. My job is to help identify new opportunities to develop treatments for CNS diseases especially those with no current treatments. I direct a small but dedicated group of scientists with the task of trying to design and manage all the parts of developing novel drugs.

I have spent 25 years trying to advance new therapies for childhood diseases such as autism, Friedreich’s ataxia and spinal muscular atrophy.”