A generous $3.25 million gift, a donation from the nonprofit organization Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) in partnership with the Hamilton and Finneran families, has created the new Penn Medicine/CHOP Friedreich’s Ataxia Center of Excellence. The FA Center of Excellence will be co-directed by David Lynch, MD, PhD, FA program director at CHOP, and Robert B. Wilson, MD, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) is a rare, progressive neurogenetic condition found in approximately one in 50,000 people worldwide. Although rare, it is the most common form of inherited ataxia, a condition characterized by a progressive lack of coordinated movement and loss of balance. FA also involves degeneration of heart muscle and nerve cells. Myocardial failure and/or arrhythmias are the most common cause of premature death. Currently there are no approved drugs to treat FA.

Read the Department of Communications news release.