NEWS RELEASES
Renowned Texas Children's Hospital Neuroscientist
Dr. Huda Zoghbi Receives Prestigious 2009 Vilcek Prize

HOUSTON – (April 3, 2009) - Dr. Huda Zoghbi, internationally renowned neurogeneticist and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, has been awarded the 2009 Vilcek Prize in biomedical science for her pioneering research on Rett syndrome and related autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Zoghbi received the award during a recent ceremony held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.

Since its inception in 2006, the Vilcek Prize is presented annually by the Vilcek Foundation to recognize the contributions of foreign-born individuals working in the United States in biomedical science and in the arts. As a 2009 Vilcek prize honoree, Dr. Zoghbi received a $50,000 cash award and a commemorative trophy created by designer Stefan Sagmeister. This year’s Vilcek Prize in the arts was awarded to famed stage and screen director Mike Nichols at the same ceremony.

“I am deeply honored by this award and very grateful to the Vilcek Foundation for their efforts to promote awareness of ongoing research and advancements in biomedical science,” said Dr. Zoghbi.

Dr. Zoghbi is a specialist in Texas Children’s Neurology Service, holds full professorships in the Departments of Pediatrics, Neuroscience, and Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and is an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Her work first made headlines when she co-discovered the gene that causes spinocerebellar ataxia type 1, a crippling neurological disease. She and her team then discovered that mutations in MeCP2 cause the neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. She and her colleagues also identified the gene Math 1 that regulates the growth of tiny inner ear hair cells, essential elements of hearing and balance in mammals.

Dr. Zoghbi’s recent research advances include deciphering some of the molecular mechanisms that underlie Rett syndrome and SCA1, and the identification of a potential therapy that has subdued SCA1 symptoms in animal models as a first step for preparations of translational studies in humans.

Dr. Zoghbi will soon lead Texas Children’s groundbreaking pediatric neurological research from its newly built neurological research institute, scheduled to open in 2010. This innovative facility will serve as the crossroads where more than 170 researchers, across over 15 disciplines, will collaborate to bring promising new treatments to those afflicted with neurological diseases.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Dr. Zoghbi’s journey to medical renown began when her first semester of medical school at the American University in Beirut was shattered by civil war. Determined to finish the year, she and her fellow students and their professors lived in the basement of the medical school building, attending class in “safe” rooms with double-thick walls. Her parents convinced her to move to the United States for safety reasons and she completed her medical studies at Nashville's Meharry Medical College, graduating in 1979. She completed her pediatric residency as well as a residency in pediatric neurology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Seeing children with incurable, inherited neurologic diseases piqued her interest in research and led her to take on a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular genetics. She trained with Dr. Arthur L. Beaudet in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor and joined the college’s faculty as an assistant professor in 1988.

Dr. Zoghbi is a member of several professional organizations and serves on the editorial boards of a number of prominent journals. Her honors include the Sidney Carter Award from the American Academy of Neurology; the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award from the American Neurological Association; the E. Mead Johnson Award from Society of Pediatric Research—the nation’s most distinguished pediatric research award; the Bernard Sachs Award from the Child Neurology Society; the Kilby Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Society through Science, Technology, Innovation, Invention, and Education; the IPSEN prize in neuronal plasticity; the Javits Award from the National Institutes of Health; and the Bristol Myers-Squibb Neuroscience Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2000 she was elected to the Institute of Medicine, and in 2004 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

About the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital Recognizing there was no single institution using multidisciplinary research to guide the study of pediatric cognitive development and neurological disorders, Texas Children’s Hospital created the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute. Scheduled to open in 2010, the institute will be the first dedicated facility to use a multidisciplinary research approach to rapidly accelerate the search for treatments for pediatric neurological disorders. The specially-designed facility will be the crossroads where more than 170 researchers (over 15 principal investigators and their teams) across disciplines collaborate to bring promising new therapies to those afflicted with neurological diseases.

About Texas Children’s Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital is committed to a community of healthy children by providing the finest pediatric patient care, education and research. Renowned worldwide for its expertise and breakthrough developments in clinical care and research, Texas Children’s is ranked in the top ten best children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Texas Children’s also operates the nation’s largest primary pediatric care network, with over 40 offices throughout the greater Houston community. Texas Children’s has embarked on a $1.5 billion expansion, Vision 2010, which includes a neurological research institute, a comprehensive obstetrics facility focusing on high-risk births and a community hospital in suburban West Houston. For more information on Texas Children's Hospital, visit www.texaschildrens.org.