Announcement of the Relocation of the Program for Neurodevelopmental Function in Rare Disorders

I am pleased to announce that the Program for Neurodevelopmental Function in Rare Disorders (NFRD) will be moving from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). The Program will be receiving additional support for the infrastructure and clinical effort that will better serve our patients and their families. The NFRD will continue to collaborate with Duke University and the Gene Therapy Center at UNC. I will be maintaining a faculty appointment with UNC to continue our work towards developing alternative treatments for rare pediatric neurodegenerative diseases.

This move will be in concert with Dr. Paul Szabolcs acceptance to be Chief of the Division of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Dr. Szabolcs will be working closely with the NFRD clinic to continue the level of care that our patients have come to expect.

Unfortunately this move will require the NFRD to abstain from making clinical appointments for the months of July and August. However, please continue to contact us for any issues regarding patient care. We will start taking appointments for September during the month of May.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our families, however, the closure is necessary in order to relocate to our new facilities. As always our hopes and best wishes are with all of our families.

Please watch for further announcements from the NFRD, which will provide details about our new facilities, as well as our new contact information.

Sincerely,

Dr. Maria L. Escolar