"My Life, My Science" Part 1 with Dr. Nancy and Dr. Alice Wexler

Nancy and Alice are sisters, authors, scholars, and longtime members of the Huntington’s disease community. Their mother, Leonore Wexler, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in the late 1960s, at a time when very little was understood about the disease and families affected by HD often faced tremendous stigma and isolation. That diagnosis would profoundly shape both of their lives—but in very different and equally important ways. Dr. Nancy Wexler is a pioneering geneticist and one of the most influential figures in the history of Huntington’s disease research. She played a central role in the international research effort in Venezuela that ultimately helped scientists locate the Huntington’s disease gene on chromosome 4, paving the way for the identification of the gene itself in 1993. She has spent decades advancing HD research, advocating for families, and helping transform our understanding of the disease. Dr. Alice Wexler is a historian, author, and scholar whose work has explored the human side of that same scientific story—the history of Huntington’s disease, the experiences of families living with genetic risk, and the complicated questions surrounding predictive testing, identity, stigma, and inheritance. She is the author of Mapping Fate: A Memoir of Family, Risk, and Genetic Research and The Woman Who Walked into the Sea: Huntington’s and the Making of a Genetic Disease. Together, Nancy and Alice offer something truly unique: two perspectives on the same family history—one that helped change the course of Huntington’s disease science and, at the same time, tells a deeply human story about what it means to live in the shadow of an inherited disease. You can purchase Nancy's book here: https://hdfoundation.org/nancy-wexler-memoir/