Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association
Treatment Driven. Community Powered.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our mission … to support the development of new drugs to treat CMT, to improve the quality of life for people with CMT, and, ultimately, to find a cure.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Strategy to Accelerate Research
In 2008, the CMTA launched STAR as a strategic research program to maximize breakthroughs in genetics and dramatically speed up the pace of CMT research. The opportunities associated with STAR stem from the fact that the causes of CMT have been pinpointed, leading to the identification of more than 90 specific gene defects. The Strategy involves: the creation of cell lines/assays (tests). Our scientists replicate the CMT cells of mice/rats and place them in tiny dishes. Next, we robotically test hundreds of thousands of compounds (drugs) of interest on these cells to see how they react to potential medications. Parallel with the creation of cell-based assays and the high-throughput process, we create animal models with each disease type and test the most promising medications on them.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of paid participants in conferences
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These conferences allow people with CMT and their families to get up-to-date information on research from the scientists. They also feature presentations from local clinicians & health care providers.
Number of Facebook followers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The purpose of our Facebook group is to discuss CMT-related matters, ask CMT-related questions, and to share our experiences with CMT in order to help and support one another.
Percent of expense dollars spent on Mission
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Strategy to Accelerate Research
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Our mission … to support the development of new drugs to treat CMT, to improve the quality of life for people with CMT, and, ultimately, to find a cure.
Number of campers enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The CMTA's Camp Footprint is the only camp in the USA just for kids with CMT! It is an annual, FREE, five-day sleepaway camp for youth with CMT. It is about building confidence and friendships!
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The CMTA's overarching goal is to find a drug treatment for CMT. While it searches for a treatment, its goal is to provide support and education to the CMT community.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
STAR IS BASED ON FIVE CORE BUSINESS PRINCIPLES:
1. Develop a strategy based on knowing the cause of the disease and where to focus.
2. Find the best researchers in the world and ask them to implement projects that support the strategy.
3. Create accountability—Hold those researchers accountable for achieving their goals. We take your money very seriously. Our researchers are not fully paid until they fully deliver.
4. Demand collaboration—We bring the researchers out of their silos to collaborate with each
other. We are now seeing more and more technologies and therapies emanating from many
different fields of study.
5. Encourage partnerships—It costs between $400 million and $1 billion to bring a new drug to
market. Like other nonprofits, the CMTA does not have this kind of money. We work with big pharmaceutical companies that have the money to develop drugs.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We created an advisory board with top-notch researchers. The Scientific Advisory Board has 30 world-class scientists. Because the work of STAR involves translational research—turning science into therapies—we created a Therapy Expert Board (TEB)–a group of experts who tell us how good the science is in terms of turning it into therapies for those with CMT. More recently, we realized we had to get ready for clinical trials so we created the Clinical Expert Board (CEB), a group of experts who are helping us and our partners think about how to design clinical trials.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
For CMT1A, which accounts for approximately 90 percent of diagnosed cases, we've done animal studies, performed high-throughput screening, identified hits and worked with a company called Genzyme. Today, we're focused on two families of compounds that are being fine-tuned in the lab. Genzyme, a traditional pharmaceutical company, takes a small molecule approach, which utilizes chemical formulas. In parallel, we are also working with biotech companies, which create biological living proteins, or large molecules. For example, a company came to us with a very interesting approach—RNA interference—which inserts little pieces of DNA into nerves to affect the way the cells create the protein that overexpresses PMP22. We've seen promising results in rat testing. This technology is currently used in two approved drugs on the market.
In the decade since the CMTA’s research efforts were consolidated under the banner of STAR (Strategy to Accelerate Research), the STAR alliance has now expanded to more than 40 pharmaceutical, biotech and service partners. The CMTA has spent more than $18.5 million to finance scores of research projects with 50 of them currently active.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association
Board of directorsas of 06/08/2023
Mr. Gilles Bouchard
Livescribe
Term: 2016 - 2022
Herb Beron
Morgan Stanley
Gilles Bouchard
Livescribe
Thomas Dubensky
Aduro
Gary Gasper
Ernst & Young LLP
Alan Korowitz
Premiere Networks
Steven O'Donnell
Retired
Christopher Ouellette
Alpha Analytical
Phyllis Sanders
The Sanders Law Firm
Steven Scherer
University of Pennsylvania
Michael Shy
University of Iowa
John Svaren
University of Wisconsin
Dan Chamby
BlackRock
David Coldiron
Legends Bank
Pete Foley
ModelOp
David Norcom
Norcap Advisors, LLC
Kevin Sami
Medhat F. Sami Foundation
John Pastor
RealPage
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No