New York, NY (February 5, 2020) – The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) is proud to announce that fifty outstanding Huntington’s disease (HD) care facilities are being awarded the designation of HDSA Centers of Excellence for 2020.
The 2020 HDSA Centers of Excellence program expanded to 50 Centers from 47 in 2019, and from just 20 in 2015. The four new Centers of Excellence are: Henry Ford Hospital (Michigan), Stony Brook University Hospital (New York), University of Kansas Medical Center, and the University of Miami. The HDSA Centers of Excellence are multi-disciplinary care teams with expertise in Huntington’s disease that share an exemplary commitment to providing comprehensive care.
The strategic expansion of the Center of Excellence program allows HDSA to increase access to expert HD clinical care and clinical trial opportunities to more families across the United States. With new Centers in Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New York HDSA now offers care locations in 33 States plus the District of Columbia. This year, HDSA will be awarding a total of $1,550,000 to the Centers of Excellence program.
“We are deeply committed to helping families with HD access experienced care,” said Louise Vetter, HDSA’s President & Chief Executive Officer. “The expansion of the HDSA Center of Excellence program to fifty clinical care centers helps reduce the distance many families have to travel to find comprehensive HD services and increases access to the life changing treatment and research opportunities that drive us forward towards finding a cure for this disease.”
The HDSA Centers of Excellence provide an elite team approach to Huntington’s disease care and research. Patients benefit from expert neurologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors and other professionals who have extensive experience working with families affected by HD and who work collaboratively to help families plan the best HD care program throughout the course of the disease. Applications to become an HDSA Center of Excellence are open to all clinics in the United States who share HDSA’s commitment to high-quality, comprehensive care and access to clinical research.
“The growth of the HDSA Center of Excellence program has been nothing short of amazing. The Centers provide crucial multidisciplinary care, opportunities to participate in clinical research, and education for the medical and non-medical community,” said Dr. Donald Higgins, HDSA Board member, Chair of HDSA’s Center Programs and Education Advisory Committee and National Director of Neurology for the Veteran Health Administration. “Kudos to HDSA for the unwavering support of this important program and to the Center Program and Education Advisory Committee tasked with reviewing applications for designation!”