The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association generally organizes two or three CMTA Patient/Family Conferences per year, often in collaboration with a CMTA Center of Excellence or multi-disciplinary CMT clinic.

These all-day conferences allow people with CMT and their families to get up-to-date information on the CMTA’s Strategy to Accelerate Research (STAR) from the scientists leading the effort to find treatments for CMT, and they also feature presentations from local clinicians and health care providers on topics such as the causes and diagnosis of CMT, physical and occupational therapy, orthotics and bracing, orthopedic surgery, genetic counseling, and more.

For those of you who haven’t been able to attend a conference, and for those who have attended and would like to watch the presentations again, the CMTA is also making video and other conference materials available so that everyone may benefit from them.

Upcoming Patient/Family Conferences

There are no conferences scheduled at this time.

For more information about conferences, please contact Laurel Richardson, Director of Community Outreach, Laurel@cmtausa.org.

Previously Recorded Conference Video

Featured Video: “Braces vs. Surgery” with Dr. Glenn Pfeffer Glenn Pfeffer, MD, is the Director of the Foot and Ankle Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. He is also a Co-Director of the Hereditary Neuropathy Program and Co-Director of the Cedars-Sinai/USC Glorya Kaufman Dance Medicine Center. Dr. Pfeffer has written numerous scientific articles on orthopaedics and has edited seven academic textbooks on the foot and ankle. He has been treating foot and ankle problems in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease for 25 years. He is a past president of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, and recently served as president of the California Orthopaedic Association. Dr. Pfeffer is frequently interviewed on foot and ankle topics, and has been featured on CNN, Dancing with the Stars, Dateline NBC, Good morning America, and in The New York Times. More from the 2018 Seattle PFC… Visit the CMTA’s YouTube channel to watch any or all of the conference videos: Seattle PFC Playlist Download the full agenda with presenter bios: 2018_Seattle_PFC_Agenda.pdf (221 downloads)

Featured Video: “Overcoming Obstacles in Clinical Trials of CMT” with Dr. Vera Fridman Dr. Vera Fridman is the co-director of the CMT Center of Excellence at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr.Fridman completed her neurology training at the University of Pennsylvania and her neuromuscular fellowship at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals. She subspecializes in both neuromuscular medicine and electrophysiology, and sees patients with a variety of neuromuscular conditions. Dr. Fridman has a strong clinical and research interest in inherited neuropathies, including CMT. Following her neuromuscular training, Dr. Fridman pursued a fellowship through the Inherited Neuropathies Consortium, which allowed her to gain experience in the multi-disciplinary care of patients with hereditary nerve diseases. Since 2013, she has been working to build the CMT Center of Excellence at MGH. Her research focus has been on identifying better ways to measure clinical progression in inherited neuropathies. More from the 2015 Boston PFC… Visit the CMTA’s YouTube channel to watch any or all of the conference videos: Boston PFC Playlist Download the full agenda with presenter bios: 2015_Boston_PFC_Agenda.pdf (207 downloads)

Featured Video: “CMT Research Updates” with Dr. John Svaren Dr. John Svaren is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Biosciences at the University of Wisconsin, and he serves as Director of the Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience core at the UW Waisman Center, where his laboratory is located. Since 2000, he has focused his research program on the genetic basis of peripheral myelination and the disruptions found in peripheral neuropathies such as CMT. Dr. Svaren is working with the CMTA to lead one arm of the collaboraive STAR project, which is focused on understanding the regulation of the PMP22 gene in order to develop novel assays for drug screening at the NIH. Although his primary focus has been on CMT1A, he welcomes the opportunity to help develop and implement a multi-front strategy directed at other forms of CMT. More from the 2015 Dallas STAR Update… Visit the CMTA’s YouTube channel to watch any or all of the STAR Update videos: Dallas STAR Update Playlist Download the full agenda with presenter bios: 2015_Dallas_STAR_Update.pdf (192 downloads)

Featured Video: “The Joys of CMT; Choosing Life on the Bright Side” with Jonah Berger Jonah Berger is 42 years old and lives in Colorful Colorado. He runs a business called The Rhythm Within, working with kids and adults with special needs. He has been diagnosed with CMTX and has enjoyed an interesting journey of challenge and wisdom. More from the 2014 Stanford PFC… Visit the CMTA’s YouTube channel to watch any or all of the conference videos: Stanford PFC Playlist Download the full agenda with presenter bios: 2014_Stanford_PFC_Agenda.pdf (196 downloads)

Featured Video: “A Step in the Right Direction” with Dr. Glenn Pfeffer Dr. Pfeffer is the Director of the Foot and Ankle Center at Cedars-Sinai and Co-Director of the Hereditary Neuropathy Program. Dr. Pfeffer has written numerous scientific articles on orthopaedics, and he has been treating foot and ankle problems in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease for 25 years. More from the 2014 Cedars-Sinai PFC… Visit the CMTA’s YouTube channel to watch any or all of the conference videos: Cedars-Sinai PFC Playlist Download the full agenda with presenter bios: 2014_Cedars-Sinai_PFC_Agenda.pdf (179 downloads)