{"id":58717,"date":"2016-05-11T15:53:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T19:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/debra-miller-2016-rare-impact-awards-honoree\/"},"modified":"2016-05-11T15:53:26","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T19:53:26","slug":"debra-miller-2016-rare-impact-awards-honoree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/debra-miller-2016-rare-impact-awards-honoree\/","title":{"rendered":"Debra Miller: 2016 Rare Impact Awards Honoree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debra Miller co-founded CureDuchenne in 2003 with her husband, Paul, after their only son was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. With a background in sales and marketing, she leads CureDuchenne and has funded seven research projects that have advanced to human clinical trials, three of which are the closest to becoming the first approved treatments for the disorder.\"035 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Flash back 15 years and Debra remembers living an ideal life with her husband and their beautiful, four-year-old son, Hawken. The parents enjoyed precious moments as a new family, just watching their son play – \u201ca blue sky life\u201d as Miller describes it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy son\u2019s diagnosis was the worst day of my life,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt took two years of misdiagnosis and our pediatrician not taking it seriously that something wasn\u2019t quite right with my son.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She first heard the word Duchenne a few nights before the results of Hawken\u2019s blood test. \u201cIt is horrendous thinking you have this perfect little child\u2026 I can describe it like losing someone, losing the future you thought you had. \u00a0Everything changed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hawken\u2019s diagnosis lit a fire in Miller and her husband. \u00a0In only a few years, they have paved the way for a brighter future and made a tremendous impact for families with Duchenne, a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle\u00a0degeneration and weakness that affects 1 in 3,500 boys, claiming their lives by their mid-20s. \u00a0For the first time, there is hope to find a cure for this destructive disease affecting thousands of boys and their families.\"201<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about bake sales and running marathons,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to think big.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Miller runs CureDuchenne based on a venture philanthropy model, a model for other organizations to follow. To date, she has leveraged more than $100 million in pharma and biotech research and development investments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently she launched a new program, CureDuchenne Cares, to train physical therapists around the country. \u00a0\u201cThere is a huge need for a physical therapy standard of care and not many experienced Duchenne centers exist around the country,\u201d says Miller. \u00a0\u201cMany parents don\u2019t attend national conferences\u2026 \u00a0This is a way to help the patient community and we are really proud of this program.\u201d\"Group<\/span><\/p>\n

It is no longer only Hawken, but other families in the Duchenne community that keep her motivated. She says, \u201cI only have one child, but I have grown a heart for all these kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

NORD is honored to share Debra\u2019s story and to honor her with a Rare Impact Award. Read the stories of all of NORD’s
\n2016 Rare Impact Award Honorees<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debra Miller co-founded CureDuchenne in 2003 with her husband, Paul, after their only son was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. With a background in sales and marketing, she leads CureDuchenne … <\/p>\n

Continue reading \u00abDebra Miller: 2016 Rare Impact Awards Honoree\u00bb<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":12180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[446,1111,1114,1112,286,1089,930,383,1113],"class_list":["post-58717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-clinical-trials","tag-cureduchenne","tag-cureduchenne-cares","tag-dmd","tag-duchenne-muscular-dystrophy","tag-rare-impact-award-honorees","tag-rare-impact-awards","tag-research","tag-venture-philanthropy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}