MDF is proud to recognize Richard T. Moxley, III, MD for his distinguished service in the field of myotonic dystrophy and his role on the MDF Scientific Advisory Committee. This month Dr. Moxley is retiring from MDF’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), after supporting MDF since our inception, and will now serve as an Emeritus member. A founding member of MDF’s SAC, he has been critical in assisting with MDF’s research and fellowship programs.

Dr. Moxley is definitely a rock star!  Now a retired Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Division of Medicine, at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, he was also the Director of the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center. After graduating from Harvard and then the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, he completed his internship in Pennsylvania and then a Heart Disease and Stroke Control Program at NASA Headquarters. His residency was in Neurology at Harvard Medical Center and his fellowship in Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He completed a Postdoctoral NIH special fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Johns Hopkins.

In addition to the directorship of the muscular dystrophy center in Rochester, he served as Associate Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Strong Memorial Hospital, and formerly Director of EMG/Nerve Conduction Laboratory at Strong Memorial Hospital. With support from the NIH he initiated the National Registry for myotonic dystrophy and for FSHD (facioscapulohumoral dystrophy, another form of muscular dystrophy), a tool investigators can use to incorporate affected DM family members into their research. He has published numerous articles on myotonic dystrophy in professional journals and serves on many advisory boards and committees. Dr. Moxley has carried out an investigation of Mexiletine, a medication that relaxes myotonia, or muscle stiffness; as well as a clinical trial of SomatoKine in individuals with myotonic dystrophy.

For his retirement from the University of Rochester in 2018, a tribute program was held entitled “A Celebration of a Pioneering Career in Neuromuscular Disease” in honor and celebration of Dr. Moxley’s distinguished career as a clinician and researcher with a significant focus and commitment to myotonic dystrophy. Fortunately for MDF and the DM community, after his retirement he continued to volunteer as a member of MDF’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

MDF created a short video in 2018 to recognize and celebrate Dr. Moxley’s incredible commitment and impact on the treatment of myotonic dystrophy and scientific discovery to drive disease understanding and therapy development. “Mox” is in many ways irreplaceable, functioning as a singular force in the myotonic dystrophy field for over four decades.

Thank you, Dr. Moxley, for all you have done to advance the field of myotonic dystrophy, for the incredible care you provided your patients, and for the essential guidance you provided MDF as we first developed and then evolved our research and fellowship programs.  MDF wouldn’t be the same without you!!