Name: David Lynch, MD, PhD
Title: Professor of Neurology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia / University of Pennsylvania
When did you first start working on FA and where do you work currently? A word I sometimes use to describe how I got into this: destiny. Over time, it seems like this was what I was supposed to do. I first started working on FA 25 years ago when I met Rob Wilson. Currently, I work at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and at the Center of Excellence (COE) at the University of Pennsylvania.
What got you interested in FA research? Rob had a small clinical FA project that he needed a neurologist for, and Kurt Fischbeck suggested me.
What question or challenge were you setting out to address when you started this work? We were interested in finding out the underlying pathobiology of FA.
What research topics or questions are you currently focused on? I tend to be generally unfocused (in other words, I work on everything).
What do you hope to achieve or what excites you in FA research? There is a collaborative aspect of the FA research community. When you work in the FA field, everyone seems to drop their ego at the door. People are much more open than you would typically see in science and the private industry. With that in mind, the goal everyone is after is to find a treatment or cure.
Is there anything else you want to share? In 1990, I met two FA patients who were married to each other. Over the years, they taught me that they had the same questions and goals in their lives that I had in my research.
Interview by
Mary Nadon Scott