Yale Medicine’s Muscular Dystrophy Program has been named a Certified Duchenne Care Center by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne).
Affiliated with Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, the program offers children and families coordinated, multidisciplinary care for the diagnosis and treatment of Duchenne and other muscular dystrophies. Duchenne is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed in childhood, affecting approximately one in every 5,000 boys.
The Yale Medicine Muscular Dystrophy Program, one of just 13th Certified Duchenne Care Centers, is co-directed by Cristian Ionita, MD, associate clinical professor of pediatrics and neurology, and Brian Smith, MD, professor of orthpaedics and rehabilitation and of pediatrics. Ionita recently arrived from Seattle Children’s Hospital, which is also a Certified Duchenne Care Center. “We are excited and proud to be part of such a select group of centers,” he said. “This is a recognition of the exceptional care patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy get at our institution. We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with PPMD.”
PPMD launched the certification program in 2014 and receives numerous requests from centers wanting to be considered for certification, according to Kathi Kinnett, MSN, CNP, PPMD’s senior vice president of clinical care. It will continue to certify clinics across the country throughout 2017, recognizing teams of physicians for their leadership in Duchenne care. The designation is part of PPMD’s effort to ensure that centers maintain the highest standards and sub-specialty services, rapidly apply new evidence-based knowledge, and minimize differences in clinical research outcomes. Ionita plans to conduct clinical trials aimed at improving treatments for this disease.