10-year anniversary event success!

The John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre had great success celebrating their 10-year anniversary with an event, ‘Neuromuscular Diseases: the next 10 years’ at The Baltic Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne on the 24th-25th November 2024. The team in Newcastle, who are employed within the University and the NHS were joined by colleagues from across the UK and around the world.

Over the last decade the centre has been performing translational research to bring diagnosis, care and therapy to people with neuromuscular disease. At the conference, speakers reflected on the last ten years of success, and explored exciting developments in the field, as they looked forward to what the next ten years of work will bring to the neuromuscular field.

Professor David Burn, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University, gave an opening speech at the event, along with the centre’s Director, Professor Volker Straub. Professor Chris Day, Vice-Chancellor and President at Newcastle University also gave a speech to the conference dinner on the Sunday evening to praise the work of the JWMDRC.

“It was fantastic to celebrate the achievements of the John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre from the past 10 years with our team members, close collaborators, and friends. I’m extremely proud that all the excellent talks were given by our early career researchers and health care professionals. I also very much enjoyed the inspiring panel discussions and would like to thank David Burn and Chris Day for their encouraging messages to our team.”

Volker Straub

The conference was arranged around the team’s four strands of work, featuring exciting lectures from staff at the JWMDRC and panel discussions with leading neuromuscular experts. The programme featured talks on the following topics:

• Advancing neuromuscular diseases through research

• Clinical research for patients with neuromuscular diseases

• Diagnostic & clinical services for patients with neuromuscular diseases

• National & international networking initiatives

The organisers were very pleased that the event was such a great success, and grateful to the sponsors for funding the opportunity to celebrate a decade of excellence at the JWMDRC. with team members and colleagues from around the world!