Welcome to the Centre for Huntington Disease

The UBC Centre for Huntington Disease (CHD) was founded by Dr. Michael Hayden in the early 1980s, offering genetic testing for families with Huntington disease (HD). A dedicated HD medical clinic was added in 1996. The CHD serves as a tertiary referral Centre for the province of British Columbia and the Yukon, and also evaluates patients from other provinces across Canada and from other countries when requested. The CHD also serves as a training centre for UBC medical students and residents, graduate students, and medical/research fellows from all over the world.

The CHD is organized into four pillars: Predictive Testing, Clinical Research, Medicine, and the Huntington Society of Canada (HSC) BC HD Resource Centre. The highly integrated, multi-disciplinary team provides world-class service to families impacted by Huntington disease. The team provides comprehensive specialist care to patients and families, leadership and involvement in clinical research trials, and access to and liaison with social and community services for patients and families.

The team includes: two medical geneticists (Drs. Michael Hayden and Sarah Nikkel ); two neurologists (Drs. Blair Leavitt and Lynn Raymond); a psychiatrist (Dr. Andrew Howard); a genetic counselor (Emily Alderman); and our BC HD Resource Director and social worker (Corrina Masson). Patients and their family member(s) meet with CHD team and then together they work with the family physician to provide the best care possible.

Additionally, patients are assessed for entry into clinical research trials. Over 500 families have been evaluated and served in the twenty five years since the HD Predictive Testing and Medical Clinics have been operating.

The CHD is located at UBC Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.