The JCC Board of Scientific Advisors welcomes Huda Zoghbi

Joining the BSA this year is Huda Zoghbi, HHMI investigator and professor in the departments of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, and Neurology and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

“I am truly excited about joining the Board of Scientific Advisors of the Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Medical Research,” Zoghbi says. “I am looking forward to working on the BSA, given the wonderful mission of JCC supporting the next generation of brilliant young scientists. At a time when research funds are shrinking, it will be so rewarding to be part of a team that is supporting the careers of rising stars.”

Zoghbi began her career in medicine, but was soon drawn to laboratory research. Born and discovered five more possible cases of the disorder buried in the patient charts at her workplace.

Zoghbi’s desire to help these and other patients drew her to the lab bench, and she began formal training in molecular genetics soon after her own daughter was born in the mid-1980s. Since then, Zoghbi discovered the genes responsible for Rett Syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia, and further elucidated the mechanisms of these conditions using animal models.

Today, Zoghbi is director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.