Name: 10th Annual Rare Disease Day Event: An Era of Innovation for Rare Diseases
Start: 2025-02-25T13:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-02-25T17:00:00-05:00
Location: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

10th Annual Rare Disease Day Event: An Era of Innovation for Rare Diseases

Rare Disease Day is an international event held in late February to raise awareness about the impact on patients and need for research.
About this Event

The event will take place on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 from 1:30 - 5:00pm ET in the Merkin Building at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142) and streamed online. Registration will begin at 1:00pm, the speaking program will be held from 1:30 - 5:00pm in the Merkin Auditorium, and a reception will follow from 5:00 - 6:00pm in the Broad Discovery Center.

This year, the Broad Institute’s Ladders to Cures Scientific Accelerator in collaboration with The Termeer Foundation are hosting the 10th Annual Rare Disease Day Event: An Era of Innovation for Rare Diseases, featuring opening remarks from Anna Greka and Belinda Termeer, and a lineup of speakers from the rare disease space including Anne Carpenter, Richard Novak, Arya Rao, Effie Parks, Tinashe Chandauka, Bart Scheerder, Nathan Guo, Ada Lio, and Masako Nakamura.

Rare genetic diseases are collectively common: they affect 1 in 10 people in North America. While more than 8,000 genes are known to drive these diseases, fewer than 500 have an available treatment. The mismatch in these numbers underscores the urgent need to disrupt the status quo and develop new approaches to deliver precision cures at scale.

The Ladders to Cures Scientific Accelerator is committed to uncovering the genetic roots of rare diseases and to using those insights to develop new treatments. With projects spanning multiple disease areas, Broad scientists are using genetics, functional genomics, computational biology, and chemical biology to better understand and ultimately seek effective treatments for rare diseases.

Building on the bold legacy of Henri Termeer, who pioneered groundbreaking treatments for rare diseases, The Termeer Foundation is a nonprofit organization working to connect the world of healthcare innovators until every patient has a cure.

If you have any questions regarding the event or an accessibility request, please reach out to Katie Liguori at [email protected].