A Gene Hunter Becomes a Drug Hunter Too

Wendy Chung and her lab have proven a talent for identifying new rare diseases. She and her team have discovered more than 44 genetic conditions to date. But Chung, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and director of the clinical genetics program at Columbia University, is driving beyond discovery to help patients find therapeutic alternatives for these conditions at Columbia University’s Center for Rare Pediatric Genetic Diseases. We spoke to Chung about the Center, how it works to find new treatments for rare diseases, and what hopes she has for scaling and accelerating the search for new therapies treat rare diseases with small populations.