Board of Directors

Mark Chandler, PhD – Board Member Emeritus

The board established the position of Emeritus Board Member to honor those individuals who have served the foundation with dedication and distinction and we are proud to bestow the title on Dr. Mark Chandler. As a founding board member he worked tirelessly to advance the mission of the foundation. His eight years of service on the board are directly tied to our successes to date. His thoughtful and creative approaches to problem-solving, communicating complex information, constructive feedback and leadership resulted in the growth of the organization and have established the foundation as the nonprofit world leader in juvenile Batten disease research funding. Mark’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit led to the idea for the rare disease genetic test and put BBDF on the map. The test, named one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 Medical Research Breakthroughs for 2012, is available to patients today. It is being used to quickly diagnose children to determine if they have one of over 795 medically devastating diseases. This will end the diagnostic odyssey that until now took an average of 2 to 3 misdiagnoses and 7.6 years for Batten patients. His legacy will be saving patients and families this heartache. Together with your generous support, the test has brought much needed attention to the foundation and our mission and has served as a springboard for working with other disease groups.