Frances Saldana

Frances became an advocate for Huntington’s Disease (HD) in 1994. Frances implemented the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) Affiliate in Orange County. In 2005 she advocated successfully for the HD Clinic at UCIrvine. She co-founded HD-CARE, a UCIrvine Support Organization in 2012. She currently serves on the UCI Human Stem Cell Oversight Committee. She serves as an Ambassador with Americans for Cures, the organization that in 2004 authored the California $3.5 billion bond created to accelerate world class science with the goal of delivering transformative regenerative medicine treatments. The bond passed and became known as The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Americans for Cures again authored Proposition 14, a $5.5 billion bond, enabling scientists to continue their stem cell work in developing treatments for devastating diseases, such as Huntington’s disease. Frances also serves on the HDSA Center of Excellence Advisory Board at UC Irvine. Frances has been recognized by HDSA Orange County, the Genetic Policy Institute at The World Stem Cell Summit, the UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman with a Living Our Values Award, the Volvo Corporation at the Volvo for Life Hometown Heroes Awards, by Help4HD, and the national Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA), based in New York. Frances’ children lost their father to HD when they were still very young, and all three of her children inherited the mutant gene for HD. She lost her youngest daughter, Marie in 2009 and her second daughter, Margie in 2014. Her only remaining child, Michael, lost his battle with HD in the fall of 2017. Frances advocates with an unwavering commitment to promote excellence in care for the HD community, to educate HD families and the public about HD and to support HD research. Her mission in life has become to see Huntington’s Disease eradicated in her lifetime