SOLVE FSHD announces the appointment of Dr Eva Chin as its executive director

The Canadian-based company, SOLVE FSHD, has announced the appointment of Dr Eva Chin has as the organisation’s new executive director.

It was also shared that Chip Wilson, founder of SOLVE FSHD, has committed a personal pledge of $100m towards a cure for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a rare disease he was diagnosed with at the age of 32.

The donation from Wilson will go towards kick-starting projects that will accelerate research into new treatments, with a goal of finding a cure for the condition by 2027.

In her new role, Dr Chin will work with researchers, scientists and other companies in the search for new treatments for FSHD.

Dr Chin’s has an extensive background in the academic and pharmaceutical industries, having previously held positions at Pfizer, the University of Maryland, MyoTherapeutics, Cytokinetics and NMD Pharma.

At Pfizer, her career evolved from academic research focusing on cellular and molecular mechanisms of muscle function to discovering and developing muscle-targeted therapies.

Dr Chin has been responsible over the last five years for overseeing the non-clinical development of numerous drug candidates in clinical trials for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), myasthenia gravis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Speaking on her position at SOLVE FSHD, Dr Chin said: “I am honoured to join the Solve FSHD team, supporting Chip and the Wilson Family in our mission to improve the quality of life for those affected by rare neuromuscular diseases by funding qualified research projects and pre-clinical and clinical research that will accelerate finding a cure for FSHD.”

Chip Wilson, SOLVE FSHD founder, commented:“Within just a few weeks of the organisation’s launch, SOLVE FSHD has received a tremendous response to the call for qualified grant applications and new therapeutic technologies, which will be reviewed under Dr Chin’s leadership.

“In addition, she has worked tirelessly to build strong industry alliances for SOLVE FSHD and closely assess the exciting projects to fund and facilitated collaborative funding opportunities across the academic and industry sectors in FSHD research and drug development.”

Solve FSHD’s venture-philanthropic funding model will, under Dr Chin’s guidance, implement Wilson’s pledge to support the initial grants, investments in early-stage companies focused on FSHD and to incentivise pharmaceutical companies in the neuromuscular disease space to increase their focus on FSHD.