North Carolina Center for the Care of Huntington’s Disease
Board of Directors, 2011-2012
Mary C. Edmondson, MD, President
Dr. Edmondson is a Clinical Associate in Psychiatry at Duke University and Liaison to the Psychiatry Consultation Service at Duke Raleigh Hospital. She has been involved in the care of Huntington’s disease for most of her life. In 1981 she organized the first meeting of NC HD families at Duke University. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and following residency and fellowship training in Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, she joined the faculty of the UNC School of Medicine AHEC program. In 2002 she completed a second residency in Psychiatry at Duke University. While in residence at Duke she established a genetic testing program for individuals at risk for Huntington’s disease and participated in the care of HD patients in the Movement Disorders Clinic. Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Psychiatry, she is uniquely experienced in managing the psychiatric, behavioral and medical complications of Huntington’s disease. She provides ongoing psychiatric care to HD patients and their family members through her private practice and the HD clinics of both the Duke and Wake Forest University Medical Centers. After her father lost his battle with Huntington’s disease in 1995, Dr. Edmondson personally underwent genetic testing. Although fortunate to have tested negative for the gene, her experience with her family’s illness continues to provide a unique perspective in the care of Huntington’s disease.
Donald Lo, PhD, Vice-President
Director of the Center for Drug Discovery and Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, Don has been engaged in basic science and drug discovery research for neurological diseases for over 25 years. He received his B.S. degree from the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from Yale University, after which he conducted postdoctoral research at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at University College London before joining the Duke faculty in 1992. In 1998, Don co-founded Cogent Neuroscience, Inc., a drug discovery company focused on developing novel approaches for the discovery and development of drugs for Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. In 2002, he returned to Duke to establish the Duke Center for Drug Discovery. Huntington's disease remains the major focus of his research, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Hereditary Disease Foundation, the Cure Huntington's Disease Initiative, and by collaborative partnerships with several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Each year, Don organizes his lab into a basketball team that participates in the NC HDSA Hoop-A-Thon. It is his belief that bringing the human experience of Huntington’s Disease into the laboratory is critical in inspiring the innovations that will someday solve the day-to-day problems of HD families.
Harley Mudge, Vice-President
Harley received a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University, and began his career in aerospace manufacturing. He returned to NCSU Engineering Extension as a consultant to small and start-up manufacturers, assisting in product design, organizational design, plant layout, and cost engineering. During this time, he also developed and produced a multi-lesson TV series on Numerical Control Manufacturing, the forerunner of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), for educational television. In 1974, Harley left the engineering field to develop his hands-on leadership and business management skills. As president of a family-owned business that included retail sales of hardware, major appliances, sporting goods, plumbing and HVAC contracting, he learned valuable lessons in personnel management and small business finance. He continued in this role until 1977. For the last 24 years of his career, Harley worked for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, with varied assignments related to organizational design, office layout, space allocation, and technical writing. In addition to his strong business background, Harley brings extensive experience in philanthropy from varied involvements with civic, social and business organizations. Harley’s involvement in Huntington’s Disease began when his wife’s cousin developed HD. Harley and his wife, Marilyn, determined they had a unique role to play in helping others with HD, combining their experience as caregivers for Marilyn’s cousin with their organizational and administrative skills. Harley has been a driving force in the development, promotion and organization of the Triangle HDSA Support Group, a bi-monthly support group for HD patients and families. His leadership in the Support Group has helped offer patients and families hope and information on dealing with the problems resulting from HD.
Stacey Succop, Secretary
After earning a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University, Stacey worked for several years in marketing and public relations positions in Washington DC. She then entered the University of North Carolina School of Public Health with a focus in Health Behavior and Health Education. During graduate school, Stacey lived in the Dominican Republic for 4 months working on disaster preparedness plans and her Spanish language skills. After completing her Master’s degree with a certificate in Global Health, she joined Family Health International (FHI) FHI is dedicated to a disciplined, science-driven approach to improving lives of the world's most vulnerable people and identifying interventions that deliver results. As a research associate, Stacey manages and analyzes data for several HIV-related behavioral research studies in different countries in Africa. Although new to the North Carolina Huntington’s Disease community, Stacey is eager to help facilitate linkages between families affected by HD and the valuable supportive resources that will improve access to care and quality of life.
Barbara Trapnell, Treasurer
Barbara graduated from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin with a double major of Business Administration and Accounting. Within a week of graduation, she joined Glidden-Durkee, a Division of SCM Corporation in the Division Accounting office. She spent her business career with the same company retiring after 34 years in various Corporate, Division, Regional, and plant locations. She remains connected with her local community by being very active at Saint Francis United Methodist Church. She coordinates the Wake County Interfaith Hospitality Network (homeless program) for Saint Francis UMC and has had various committee assignments including finance, staff support, united ministry council, missions, and hospitality. Barbara has been a part of her local homeowner's association board of directors since becoming part of the community and over time has been the president, vice president, secretary, and currently is the treasurer. She also does a delivery run for the Meals on Wheels program for Wake County.
Christopher G. Young, Director
Chris completed his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Belmont Abbey College in 1987, and soon after rose to a leadership position in the banking industry. His initial position with Nations Bank in Charlotte allowed him the opportunity to manage a workgroup responsible for multi-million dollar commercial loan portfolios, as well as the sale of two key loan portfolios to outside investors. With Wachovia Bank, he personally interfaced with customers as a Business Banker, responsible for all aspects of client management. In 2000, he re-joined Bank of America, where he has gained extensive experience in the management of billion dollar accounts, marketing, training, policy development, and development of key partnerships within the organization. Chris’ passion and commitment to NC-CCHD evolved from his personal experience with his wife, Jacque, who continually manages to rise above the challenge of daily life with Huntington’s Disease.
Cindy H. Canning, Director
Cindy started her career in the best training of all – raising two children for 25 years. She began her professional career managing accounts receivables with CWD Packaging. In 1995, she participated in the creation of a sales & marketing company that manufactures patented pre-wrapped gift boxes with distribution to specialty and department stores throughout the US. Her charitable efforts over her lifetime have been extensive, including PTA participation, Women of the Presbyterian Church Board, Good Shepherd Soup Kitchen, Step-UP, Project Enlightenment, and a member of the Wake Education Partnership for 25 years.
Glen Snavely, Director
Glen graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Glen has worked for SCM Metal Products for 35 years in multiple positions, including, Technician, Project Engineer, Plant Engineer, Manager of Engineering & Maintenance, Director of Process Engineering, and Manager of Purchasing. He has participated in the North Carolina Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America for many years. Glen’s wife, Jeanie has Huntington’s Disease; it has claimed the life and health of her mother, two brothers and sister. In addition, she has another brother at risk for HD. Glen is committed to helping others less fortunate than he and his family receive appropriate care for this devastating disease.
Daniel P. van Kammen MD, PhD, FACNP, Director
Dan van Kammen is a pharmaceutical physician executive with 13 year experience in CNS Clinical Development and Translational Medicine. He is a Board certified psychiatrist with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology. He was CMO at the CHDI Foundation for 3½ years, where he was responsible for establishing the clinical development strategy and infrastructure for CHDI’s discovery pipeline, including longitudinal observation studies, disease progression and target engagement biomarker assessment, development of needed clinical endpoints such as a novel functional rating scale (FuRST-pHD) and cognitive assessment battery for prodromal/premanifest HD patients (CAB-HD), developing treatment guidelines, overseeing global patient registries and international clinical networks. He organized for EMA the HD part of the ADAD-HD meeting in 2010 on disease modification. Formerly, Dan occupied increasingly senior positions in clinical development at Johnson & Johnson, and was head of Phase 1 and 2 for CNS at Aventis (now sanofi). Before joining the industry in 1998, he was an internationally recognized schizophrenia researcher at the NIMH for 10 years and 15 years at the University of Pittsburgh (professor emeritus). Dan received his training in Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He has published over 350 scientific papers and edited a book series on mental health research. He is a member of the working group of the NINDS HD Common Data Elements. Dan is presently an independent CNS clinical development consultant with a focus on neurodegenerative disorders.
Richard Fischer, Director
After his graduation from Purdue University with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Richard worked at Triad Utrad Corporation as a Transformer Design Engineer. In 1990, Richard started on the path of entrepreneurship and formed his first company, Raycom, Inc., a manufacturers representative company. In 2004 he started another company, Events By Design, LLC., a national events company. His non-profit work has included serving on the vestry of St George’s Episcopal Church, and as a member of Board of Directors of the North Carolina Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. His wife’s family has brought Huntington’s Disease into Richard’s life, as his wife’s mother died of Huntington’s disease, and her brother is now suffering through the advanced stages of the disease. Because of the challenges his family has faced due to Huntington’s Disease, Richard has committed himself to helping other families find ways to manage and overcome the problems associated with Huntington’s Disease.
Leslie Blake, Director
With an undergraduate degree in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill, Leslie began her career in healthcare working in an HIV research laboratory at Duke University. She then returned to UNC (as a true Tar Heel would) to obtain her Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from the School of Public Health allowing her to build an understanding of the business aspects of healthcare. Upon graduation, Leslie moved to New York as a consultant for a life sciences strategy consulting firm, The Frankel Group. Here, her work focused on a variety of marketing and strategy engagements for pharmaceutical companies. Examples include evaluating commercial opportunities to guide research and development decisions and valuing investment opportunities for venture capital clients. Currently, Leslie consults with pharmaceutical companies and consulting firms on a part-time basis allowing her more time to focus on her family and serve on several ministries in her church.
Rev. Bobby Fletcher, Director
Reverend Fletcher received an Associate’s Degree in Electronics Technology from Richmond Community College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Church Ministries from Southeastern University, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Duke University. He has been a minister in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church for 15 years and currently serves at Evansdale United Methodist Church just outside Wilson, NC. Over the years, his charitable interests have included the Rotary, Lions, Ruritans, and Habitat for Humanity. One of the greatest and most enriching adventures in his life was being a foster parent to 19 children over a 6 year period. Reverend Fletcher’s first wife lived with Huntington’s Disease for over a decade. Prior to taking care of his wife, he was privileged to be able to assist in the care of her mother. For over 16 years, Reverend Fletcher was the primary person responsible for a patient living in a skilled nursing facility. He has great empathy for the various challenges that families experience when dealing with HD. Reverend Fletcher hopes that his experiences may be of help to others as they encounter similar obstacles.
Dexter Morris, Director
Dexter L. Morris PhD MD (Tony) is a Senior Medical Director at UCB Bioscience and Adjunct Associate Professor at UNC School of Public Health in Epidemiology. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine and previously was Vice Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina. Since moving to the pharmaceutical industry 10 years ago, Dr Morris has focused his work on neurodegenerative diseases and joined the board to provide his time to help in a different way with these devastating illnesses.. In addition to providing the board contacts with industry, Dr Morris will focus on assisting with better understanding the epidemiology of Huntington’s Diseas (HD) in North Carolina and patterns of HD care. He will also work with board to get funding for research projects of NC-CCHD using his previous experience in this area and contacts in both academia and industry.
