It is my great privilege to continue working with the Huntington Study Group (HSG) in the capacity as editor of HD Insights, replacing Ray Dorsey in this position. I have been an HSG investigator for almost eight years, and I am increasingly convinced that the HSG is a unique organization, that stands out from its peers. I don’t know of many groups that have such a strong interest in welcoming new investigators, supporting the educational development of the HD community, and providing a voice to coordinators, all with a singular focus on advancing therapeutic options for patients with HD. It is my hope that HD Insights will continue to reflect this energy, and provide a unique source of information to this community.
Along with Sara LaJeunesse, my deputy editor, we have made several changes to the periodical, and we hope you like them. Ultimately, our goal is to provide in-depth topical stories and news briefs that are relevant to clinical trials and HD. In this issue, we discuss the STAIR-HD study and integrate aspects of drug development, NeuroNEXT, clinical manifestations of irritability in HD, and the challenges of identifying outcome measures for these symptoms. In addition, we highlight recent events in the HD world—such as the ENROLL-HD Congress held recently in Quebec City. We will continue to offer HD Insights of the Year awards, and are pleased to introduce Sarah Gregory, et al. and Qiang Guo, et al. as this year’s award winners.
We also have invested in redesigning the print version of the periodical to make it more appealing for sharing in locations, such as your laboratory coffee table, patient waiting room, and office. You can help support us by increasing distribution to your peers, and sharing the Internet version across your department.
In the future, we will start to integrate interviews across social media platforms and provide clinical topics of interest to the community. I am also hopeful that we can create a clinical trial coordinator section, which will engage our colleagues who coordinate these studies.
Again, I want to thank Ray Dorsey and the HSG for this opportunity to serve as editor of HD Insights, and I hope you enjoy the first edition of HD insights 2.0.
Daniel Claassen, MD
Associate Professor of Neurology, Vanderbilt University
