President's Message

ASGCT President's Message—March 2018

Dr. Helen E. Heslop - March 15, 2018

With the ASGCT Annual Meeting just two months away, we're excited to announce the ASGCT award honorees for 2018 and a reminder for members to vote before the April 10 deadline.

The President's Message is published as part of ASGCT's newsletter, The Vector. You can read the rest of this edition of The Vector online.

With spring comes the Society’s annual election of officers and directors, and the nominations committee has done an outstanding job in securing a highly qualified slate of candidates that includes Barry Byrne, MD, PhD or Stephen Russell, MD, PhD for Vice President; Timothy Hunt, JD or Richard Morgan, PhD for Translational and Clinical Development Representative; Jennifer Adair, PhD or Suk See De Ravin, MD, PhD for At-Large Director; and Stephen Hart, PhD or John Maher, PhD also for At-Large Director. To cast your ballot please visit the Members Only section of the ASGCT website. The election will remain open through April 10.

I am also delighted to announce the selection of the 2018 ASGCT Awardees, reflecting outstanding achievements in our field. This is a very appropriate year to honor Jean Bennett, MD, PhD who has been selected as the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award. Dr. Bennett has pioneered the development of gene therapy strategies for inherited ocular diseases and her progress from preclinical models to testing in a canine model and then first-in-man studies has now culminated in the first FDA approval of an AAV gene therapy to improve vision in patients with established genetic vision loss due to confirmed biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy.

This is both the first gene therapy approved in the U.S. to target a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene and the first using an AAV vector. I look forward to presenting her with the award in person and listening to her presentation during the Annual Meeting. 

The Outstanding New Investigator award recognizes investigators for contributions within the first ten years of becoming independent investigators and this year we honor two accomplished young investigators: Luca Biasco, PhD and Luk Vandenberghe, PhD. Dr. Biasco has exploited insertion site analyses from human gene therapy trials to produce new insights into human hematopoiesis and immune cells while Dr. Vandenberghe has made significant contributions to AAV biology and vector design to target rare retinal diseases and hearing disorders.

In addition, we acknowledge the Fondazione Telethon and its General Director, Dr. Francesca Pasinelli with the Sonia Skarlatos Public Service Award. Telethon has had a key role in advancing gene and cell therapy for rare genetic diseases in Europe and throughout the world. Please join me in congratulating this most distinguished class of awardees.

Finally, our 21st Annual Meeting is just two months away! Please make sure you register so you do not miss out on the ground breaking clinical trial results, cutting edge technology advancements, social networking events, and much more. The full program is now available online. I look forward to seeing you there.

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