Stuttering Foundation Explores Genetic Research at New York City Gala

Dr. Dennis Drayna, NIDCD, Explores Developments
in Genetics and Neuroscience of Stuttering

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Greg Wilson
greg@CurleyCompany.com
571-239-7474

New York City (May 16, 2019) — To mark Stuttering Awareness Week (May 13-19), the Stuttering Foundation held its annual gala at the Lotos Club in New York City featuring guest speaker Dr. Dennis Drayna, Chief, Laboratory of Communication Disorders and Chief, Section on Genetics of Communication Disorders of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Drayna updated attendees from the stuttering community about recent research in the fields of genetics and neuroscience of Stuttering.

“Basic biomedical research can be painstaking and unpredictable,” said Dr. Drayna. “Understanding the basic biological mechanisms that underlie a disorder not only tells us about that disorder, but it allows us to potentially use developments that come from studies of other disorders that arise due to similar mechanisms. This can produce important, unexpected synergies with research on other disorders – A rising tide floats all boats!”

During his keynote address, Dr. Drayna gave an overview of his stuttering genetics research, including the genes they had found, the discovery of what the products of those genes do, and how this information has led to an understanding of underlying defects in stuttering. In addition, he discussed research published by other scientists showing how pharmacological approaches to this new type of neurological disease mechanism can lead to small molecule agents that reverse such defects in other neurologic disorders.

He also discussed creation of a “mouse model” of stuttering and how it has allowed researchers to integrate molecular findings with systems neuroscience approaches to understand stuttering at a cellular and brain connectivity scale.

Dr. Drayna concluded that research is starting to reveal the deficits present in stuttering at the molecular level, stating this knowledge is a prerequisite for, and can now allow for, development of potential new therapeutics for stuttering that, for the first time, would be based on a known cause of stuttering.

“Dr. Drayna, who as a private citizen, serves on the Stuttering Foundation’s Board in addition to his work at NIH, reminds us all that there is ongoing, strident research into the causes and treatment of stuttering,” said Stuttering Foundation president Jane Fraser.

About the Foundation

Malcolm Fraser, a successful businessman who struggled with stuttering, established and endowed the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation in 1947. The Foundation provides free online resources at StutteringHelp.org for people who stutter and their families as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering. For more information, visit www.StutteringHelp.org.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor has been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter for many years, but probably few people know all of the unique accomplishments of this former hockey great who was born on December 4, 1955, in Levack, Ontario.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

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The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

Carly Simon

Carly Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old.

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.