Meet one of our 2025 Fellowship recipients, Emily Davey, BS! Emily Davey was introduced to DM at nine when a family friend's daughter was diagnosed with congenital myotonic dystrophy. Her family soon founded the non-profit Promise to Kate, where Emily volunteered, raised awareness, and served as president of the Junior Board in high school. During her undergraduate studies she knew she wanted to get involved in DM research immediately. However, her undergraduate institution did not have labs studying DM.

She volunteered in Dr. Andy Berglund’s lab at SUNY Albany, leading a project on exercise as a therapeutic approach for DM1 and developing an interest in bioinformatics. For her graduate studies, she chose the University of Florida because of its robust DM research program and the opportunities to interact with affected families through the Center for NeuroGenetics.

She now works in Dr. Eric Wang’s lab at the University of Florida, focusing on CNS impacts of DM and is working on the project “Uncovering regional and cell-type specific transcriptomic signatures in the DM1 brain”. Inspired by interactions with DM patients and families, Emily Davey aims to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship in DM research and become a senior researcher specializing in CNS mechanisms in DM1.

Click here to learn more about MDF's research funding opportunities and prior grant recipients.