 Well, it is not easy to follow a legend Thank You Nancy and Herb and good evening. I'm Karen Newman It is my honor to serve as a trustee for the hereditary disease foundation and the chair of this evening's festivities And it's my pleasure to welcome each of you here this evening. We couldn't be more pleased to have you with us. I Would also like to extend my thanks to dr. Shirley Tillman and dr. Frank Bennett for their incredible dedication to science and for the initial insights that they shared at tonight's symposium This evening. We celebrate the hereditary disease foundation an Organization that has pioneered scientific research and discovery for 50 years As a member of a family that has been affected by Huntington's disease. I Know the profound impact that this foundation's work has had on so many lives I would like to take a moment to acknowledge our foundation's founder the late dr. Milton Wexler for his vision and novel approach to fostering scientific collaboration and innovation And I would also like to express my gratitude to his daughters Nancy and Alice For their unending and relentless commitment to the work of this foundation My family became involved in the HD community in 1998 When my sister Penny was diagnosed with Huntington's disease Penny was a loving and dedicated mother of two boys my nephews Jeremy and Sean She was a devoted daughter a caring doted doting an often overprotective big sister And a talented interior designer when she began showing symptoms in her mid-30s Shortly after she was diagnosed we became aware of the work of the hereditary disease foundation And when Penny lost her courageous battle eight years ago at the age of 51 We knew that we wanted to support and help the HDF achieve its goal of finding a cure for Huntington's disease A disease that due to its genetic nature would be would forever be part of our family The hereditary disease foundation represents the best in science Its unique approach to searching for a cure began in 1968 with the Milton Wexler workshops Our workshops bring together scientists from different disciplines To brainstorm share data set aside competitive barriers and egos And to work together to find a solution And mentioned at the symposium that we just had our workshop many people many of the scientists in this audience Worked the last two days together to find solutions In August we hosted our 11th celebration of life symposium in Boston For three days over 250 seasoned and young scientists from across the globe came together to share their latest findings Explore cutting-edge approaches to research and discuss new ways to design and create therapies Our workshops and in symposia inspire investigators to collaborate with with one another Often forming important partnerships as they discover common interests and the power of shared ideas and resources The HDF also prides itself on funding the work of young and promising scientists Who are often just starting out in their careers and may not have access to funds from the NIH and other larger foundations In fact several members of our very distinguished scientific advisory board Received and began their career with their first grant coming from this foundation We are fortunate that many of these scientists then chose to dedicate their life's work to studying Huntington's disease Tonight we recognize these scientists whose brilliant work and collaboration Continues to foster creativity in advanced science But most importantly this evening we acknowledge and celebrate the first generation of young and promising scientists We acknowledge and celebrate the incredible generosity of each of you our friends family donors You're our true partners in research With your support, we are currently funding over 20 research projects and fellowships in several countries including Norway Germany Sweden China and of course the United States In the past two years alone the foundation has provided over two million dollars in scientific grants And I am delighted to announce that this evening's event has raised over $800,000. I am also delighted to announce that we believe one million may be in sight for that We are incredibly grateful The future of research for Huntington's disease is exciting promising and hopeful As you heard this evening at this symposium We are on the cusp of groundbreaking discoveries and believe that a cure and treatments for HD is on the horizon Together we will conquer this disease and our findings will likely have a significant impact on other diseases such as Alzheimer's Parkinson's and ALS Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do and for joining us this evening to celebrate our 50th anniversary Thank you