The PaLaDIn consortium is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof. Volker Straub as the PaLaDIn Clinical Lead with Prof. Benedikt Schoser acting as the Deputy Clinical Lead.
Prof. Straub and Prof. Schoser are key opinion leaders in the field of neuromuscular diseases and bring their vast experience and expertise to the consortium. They will advise on the strategic direction of the consortium to support the realisation of the project’s vision:
To develop and implement an innovative data collection platform to accelerate the development of effective treatments and patient care, enhance healthcare decision-making and improve patient outcomes.
We would like to introduce you to both Prof. Straub and Prof. Schoser and why they are involved in this important project:
Professor Volker Straub is the Harold Macmillan Professor of Medicine and Professor of Neuromuscular Genetics at Newcastle University and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is currently the Deputy Dean for Translational and Clinical Research and Director of the university’s John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre.
Volker has a long-standing interest in the pathogenesis of genetic muscle diseases, with research involving disease models, the application of imaging technologies, next generation sequencing, and machine learning. He is the principal investigator for several natural history studies and interventional clinical trials in rare neuromuscular disorders. He is the current president of the World Muscle Society and an author on over 500 peer-reviewed publications.
As well as clinical leadership, Volker brings expertise in the planning and delivery of EU funded projects. He was the co-founder of the EU-funded FP6 network of excellence for genetic neuromuscular diseases, TREAT-NMD, and established TREAT-NMD Services Ltd., the business arm of the TREAT-NMD Alliance.
Volker’s impressive career history, clinical expertise and knowledge on how to deliver successful EU projects makes him the perfect fit for PaLaDIn! Volker spoke to us about the appointment of his new role:
“I’m very excited to support Project PaLaDIn as the clinical lead, as this ambitious project is extremely timely and relevant for all stakeholders involved in rare disease drug development.”
Professor Benedikt Schoser is a trained neurologist, neurophysiologist, neurointensivist, palliative medicine doctor, and muscle pathologist. He is a professor of Neurology, senior consultant neurologist and co-chair of the Friedrich-Baur-Institute, Dep. of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany. He is the executive section editor of Neuromuscular Disorders Journal and a member of the editorial board of Current Opinions in Neurology and the European Journal of Neurology. He became a fellow of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in 2017 and serves as a board member of the educational panel, Rare disease panel, and Scientific Muscle and Neuromuscular panel of the EAN. Prof. Schoser was co-chair of the Joint Educational Board of the EAN/European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) and the European Neurology board exam organizer. He is a long-term member of the World Muscle Society (WMS), a member of the WMS executive board, and has organized the WMS teaching course for the past 10 years. Since 2015, he has been chairing the European Pompe Consortium (EPOC). Since 2024, he has been the chair of the scientific advisory board of EuroDyMA (Federation of European Myotonic Dystrophy Associations). He authored more than 370 peer-reviewed publications (>85 in the field of myotonic dystrophies, >80 in glycogen storage diseases) in clinical and translational science. Prof. Schoser’s special interests are multisystemic neuromuscular disorders, translational research, and therapy.
Prof Schoser spoke to us about his appointment as Deputy Clinical Chair of PaLaDIn:
“I’m happy to embark on Project PaLaDIn as the Deputy clinical lead, as this is primarily a patient-derived consortium, and we will work on shared decision-making here with all stakeholders involved in bringing better medicine to people living with rare neuromuscular diseases.”
