Cynthia Joyce Elected Vice-Chair of the SMA Foundation Board of Directors

The SMA Foundation announced today that Cynthia Joyce will be stepping down as Executive Director of the Foundation at the end of this month. Effective April 2, 2011, Ms. Joyce will become a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and has been elected to the office of Vice-Chair. Ms. Joyce was the first employee of the Foundation, and will be transitioning from her role as Executive Director after nearly eight years of remarkable service to the organization. Loren Eng, President of the Foundation said, “Cynthia has helped build the Foundation from an ambitious idea into a world class biomedical research organization with tireless devotion, endless patience and unwavering grace. She has given thousands of patients worldwide a realistic hope for a treatment. Cynthia has a long list of accomplishments to be proud of and we will be forever grateful to her for all that she has done. We will miss her as a colleague but look forward to her advice, support and friendship in the years to come.”

The SMA Foundation works to accelerate the development of a treatment for SMA, the number one genetic killer of infants and toddlers. Since its inception, the SMA Foundation has committed over $75 million to research and therapeutics development. Ms. Eng will serve as the primary contact for the Foundation going forward.