HDSA Expands List of Huntington’s Disease Centers of Excellence to 43 for 2018

The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) recently announced that 43 Huntington’s disease (HD) care facilities are now designated as HDSA Centers of Excellence for 2018 — up from 41 centers last year.

HDSA started with only 20 Centers of Excellence across the United States in 2015, an increase of 115 percent in the past four years. The 2018 list of centers includes locations across 30 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia. Four centers also have partner sites to expand care in Oregon, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.

This year, HDSA will award a total of $1,264,250 to the Centers of Excellence program, a $104,500 increase from last year.

All HDSA Centers of Excellence include multidisciplinary teams with confirmed expertise in Huntington’s care, and they all share a commitment to bringing comprehensive care to their patients.

“HDSA’s Center of Excellence program is the cornerstone of comprehensive care for families affected by Huntington’s disease,” Louise Vetter, president and chief executive officer of HDSA, said in a press release. “With multi-disciplinary care teams that include neurologists, mental health professionals, genetic counselors, social workers and more, an HDSA Center of Excellence means a medical ‘home’ for HD families and a place where their complex needs can be addressed capably and with compassion. Now with forty-three centers nationwide, more families have access to high-quality HD care.”

Applications to become a Center of Excellence are open to all U.S. clinics who share HDSA’s commitment to high-quality care, as well as access to clinical research.

“In addition to exceptional care, HDSA Centers of Excellence are on the frontlines of the development of new HD therapies,” Vetter said. “Each Center is required to support clinical research and most of them offer families direct participation in important observational studies and drug development trials. HDSA Centers of Excellence are the epitome of the help and hope that has guided our mission for fifty years.”

HDSA is the principal nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by Huntington’s disease, providing help to patients and their families in areas from community services and education to advocacy and research.

Support for the 2018 HDSA Centers of Excellence was made possible in part by the Griffin Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to enhance the lives of children through education, child care, health, and nutrition.

The full 2018 HDSA Centers of Excellence list can be found here.