SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING Feb. 27th
LEON I. CHARASH, M.D. - BIOGRAPHY
Leon I. Charash, M.D. |
02/23/01
Leon Charash, a leading authority on neuromuscular diseases and chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, believes that a major research investment on the part of the National Institutes of Health is necessary to bring muscular dystrophy research to the "next level."
Charash, a compassionate physician who has treated many families affected by neuromuscular diseases, has provided a guiding hand over MDA's research program, which, since the 1980s, has helped to uncover the genetic causes of most forms of muscular dystrophy. Increased NIH support could greatly accelerate the quest to develop treatments and cures.
When he was growing up in Irvington, N.J., Charash befriended a schoolmate from a few blocks away, a class clown named Jerry Lewis. While Lewis set off to start a career in show business, Charash went on to attend Cornell University and Cornell Medical College, where he earned his medical degree, specializing in pediatric neurology.
Charash received training from the man who was then the world's ranking authority on muscle diseases, Ade Milhorat. Milhorat became one of the founders of the Muscular Dystrophy Association in 1950.
Charash assisted Milhorat in caring for patients at MDA's first clinic, which was affiliated with the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He went on to direct the first MDA clinic on Long Island. MDA now maintains a network of 230 hospital-affiliated clinics.
Charash also served in the U.S. Air Force for several years in the 1950s.
In 1964, Charash participated in a clinical study of a potential treatment for muscular dystrophy. After a press conference to announce the results of the study, Charash was reunited with Lewis, who had since become MDA's national chairman and most prominent volunteer. They hadn't seen each other in 20 years.
"We went to Jerry's room, where we talked for hours about old times and old friends," says Charash. "He still made me laugh."
In the late 1960s, MDA created its Medical Advisory Committee, a consortium of outstanding physicians who would advise the Association on the fostering of clinical research to develop treatments and eventually cures for the muscular dystrophies and related diseases. Shortly thereafter, Charash was appointed the committee's chairman, a role he has filled ever since. He's been an MDA spokesman during virtually all of the Association's clinical research initiatives, including, in recent years, MDA's continuing efforts to launch gene therapy trials for several forms of muscular dystrophy.
In addition, he continues his private practice and serves as associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Cornell University Medical College and in other capacities, including associate attending pediatrician at New York Hospital.
Charash, who lives in Woodbury, N.Y., also serves on MDA's Board of Directors.
"We took different paths," says Charash of his 60-year relationship with Lewis. "But through an inscrutable twist of fate, we ended up at the same destination, each dedicated to fighting neuromuscular diseases."
Read Leon I. Charash, M.D.'s testimony. |
