Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D.
Scientific Advisor
Professor, Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics,Pediatrics, Neurology, & Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Dr. Zoghbi began her career as a pediatric neurologist, but a chance encounter with a young child with Rett Syndrome drew her from clinical practice into the world of genetics research. She went on to discover the gene Math1 and the molecular pathology underlying spinocerebellar ataxia 1. In 1999, after a 16-year search, the Zoghbi lab identified mutations in the MECP2 gene as the cause of Rett Syndrome. Mutations in MECP2 are now being seen in some cases of childhood schizophrenia, classic autism and learning disabilities.

She is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the National Academy of Science and the Institute of Medicine. She is also a member of the Lasker Award jury. Her many awards include the nation's most distinguished pediatric research award, the E. Mead Johnson Award for Pediatric Research; the Kilby Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Society through Science, Technology, Innovation, Invention, and Education; the Sidney Carter Award, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research.

Dr. Zoghbi will serve as director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital.  Scheduled to open in 2010, it will be the first facility of its kind in the United States that will use a multidisciplinary research approach and will be dedicated to understanding the unique issues of a child's brain structure, development patterns and related diseases.

She is on the editorial boards of the journals Science, Neuron, and PloS.

Dr. Zoghbi studied at the American University of Beirut, Meharry Medical College and Baylor College of Medicine.