For immediate release: Feb. 8, 2006

GALVESTON, Texas — The Huntington’s Disease Society of America is honoring Dr. Tetsuo Ashizawa, chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, at its Texas Celebration of Hope Gala in Houston tomorrow.

Dr. Ashizawa is receiving the organization’s Distinguished Leader Team Hope Award on Feb. 9.

Fred Taubman, director of marketing, development and communications for HDSA’s national office in New York, praised Ashizawa for “his years of dedication to the Huntington’s disease community.”

“This is a great honor,” Ashizawa said. “My strength is my close relationship with my patients, staff and caregivers. I feel it was given to all of us working together.”

Ashizawa was a founder of the HDSA Huntington Disease Center of Excellence when it opened at the Baylor College of Medicine in 2002. He was a professor of neurology at Baylor before becoming chair of neurology at UTMB in July 2002. A member of the Huntington Study Group, an international consortium for clinical research on Huntington’s disease, Ashizawa has spent much of his career focused on Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

“I am essentially the primary care physician for many of my patients,” he said. “Patients, caregivers, my staff and I have become a collegial unit to solve challenging medical, social and sometimes personal problems. I can tell you that this is one of the most devastating diseases of mankind.”

Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder. “It may be considered as the prototype of neurodegenerative disorders because it is the first genetic neurodegenerative disorder whose gene mutation was identified,” Ashizawa said. He has participated in several clinical research projects for developing HD treatments. His laboratory research focuses on spinocerebellar ataxias, which are neurodegenerative disorders of the spine and cerebellum resulting in the loss of the ability to coordinate muscular movement.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
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John Koloen: jskoloen@utmb.edu