Harvard Medical School

Center for Neurofibromatosis  and Allied Disorders

About Us

CNfAD is a virtual center that spans the Harvard Medical School and affiliated hospitals, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB), Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). CNfAD is directed by Dr. James Gusella, a molecular geneticist whose research over the last 25 years has focused on both neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders including neurofibromatosis types 1 (NF1) and 2 (NF2), and related disorders among the phakomatoses, such as tuberous sclerosis (TSC) and von Hippel Lindau (VHL) disease. Dr. Robert Martuza, an expert in the neurosurgical aspects of NF1 and NF2, is Associate Director of the CNfAD. The CNfAD faculty comprises a multidisciplinary collection of talented investigators and clinicians with a noteworthy track record of accomplishments in basic and applied NF research and clinical care, including Dr. Mira Irons at Children’s Hospital (Associate Chief, Division of Genetics and Director of Neurofibromatosis Program), Dr. Mark Kieran from Dana Farber Cancer Institute (Clinical Director of Pediatric Medical Neuro-oncology), and Dr. Scott Plotkin at Massachusetts General Hospital (Clinical Director of MGH NF Clinic). Please visit our Affiliated Members web page to learn more about our collaborators and their current research efforts.

Mission

The mission of CNfAD is to define the pathogenic mechanisms that cause NF1 and NF2 and to develop and test rational treatments for these disorders. In addition, we also focus on several allied disorders, such as schwannomatosis, multiple familial meningiomas and multiple familial neurofibromas, which display phenotypic similarity with NF, but are not due to inherited mutations at the NF1 or NF2 loci. Characterization of NF and allied disorders involves multiple clinical disciplines, including neurology, neurosurgery, dermatology, oncology, ophthalmology, otology, orthopedics, radiology, and others, but it is fundamentally centered in genetics. The CNfAD facilitates interdisciplinary approaches to research and promotes cooperative clinical studies between Harvard Medical School affiliated institutions. It not only encourages effective communication and collaboration between HMS basic scientists in the NF and related fields, but, most importantly, bridges the gap between clinical and basic scientists to gain the synergies that result from directly relating studies of humans with those in model systems.

** SAVE THE DATE--UPCOMING EVENT**

2009 NEUROFIBROMATOSIS AND ALLIED DISORDERS SYMPOSIUM

Date:  Saturday, September 26, 2009

Location:  Children's Hospital Boston

Keynote Speaker:  Bruce Korf, MD, PHD

Please click here for general information.  We will post the agenda and additional details as they become available.

**Transcripts Now Available**