Petra Kaufmann, MD, MSc delivered Keynote on Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Petra Kaufmann is director of the NCATS Office of Rare Diseases Research. Her work includes overseeing the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network program, Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, and the NCATS Toolkit for Patient-Focused Therapy Development. Kaufmann focuses on engaging a broad range of rare diseases research stakeholders to accelerate translation from discovery to health benefits through use of innovative methods and tools.

Before joining NCATS, Kaufmann was the director of the Office of Clinical Research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), where she worked with investigators to plan and execute a large portfolio of clinical research studies and trials in neurological disorders, including many in rare diseases. She established NeuroNEXT, a trial network for Phase II trials using a central institutional review board, streamlined contracting, active patient participation in all project phases, and a scientific and legal framework for partnership with industry. Kaufmann also promoted data sharing, working with multiple stakeholders from the academic, patient organization and industry sectors to develop data standards for more than 10 neurological diseases.

A native of Germany, Kaufmann earned her MD from the University of Bonn and her MSc in biostatistics from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She completed an internship in medicine at St. Luke’s/Roosevelt (now part of Mt. Sinai) in New York City, training in neurology and clinical neurophysiology at Columbia University, and a postdoctoral fellowship in the molecular biology of mitochondrial diseases at Columbia’s H. Houston Merritt Clinical Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy and Related Diseases. Before joining NINDS, Kaufmann was a tenured associate professor of neurology at Columbia, where she worked as a researcher and clinician in the neuromuscular division, the electromyography laboratories and the pediatric neuromuscular clinic.

She has served on scientific advisory committees for many rare disease organizations and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology Science Committee, the International Rare Disease Research Consortium Interdisciplinary Scientific Committee and the Clinical Trial Transformation Initiative Steering Committee.

Kaufmann is board certified in neurology, neuromuscular medicine and electrodiagnostic medicine. She currently sees patients in the Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Dr. Kaufmann delivered the Keynote Address at WORLDSymposium 2018 on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 8:00 AM.

R. Rodney Howell, MD Delivered Keynote on Thursday, February 8, 2018

R. Rodney Howell, MD is Professor of Pediatrics and a Member of the Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, at the Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Medical Genetics in the area of Clinical Biochemical Genetics.

Dr. Howell received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Duke University Medical Alumni Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American College of Medical Genetics Foundation, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Genetics from the March of Dimes. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Federal Rare Disease Act, he was named one of the 30 Rare Disease Heroes by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. In 2015, Dr. Howell was the first recipient of the Advocacy Award from the American Society of Human Genetics for his excellence and achievement in the applications of human genetics.

Dr. Howell was the Founding Chair (2004-2011) of the Advisory Committee of Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children, the congressionally-mandated Committee that advises the Secretary of HHS on issues concerning newborn screening and the Recommended Uniform Newborn Screening Panel (RUSP). Dr. Howell has served as Chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Board of Directors since 2007. He was elected President of the International Society of Neonatal Screening, based in The Netherlands, in 2016.

Dr. Howell delivered the Keynote Address at WORLDSymposium 2018 on Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 7:45 AM.