#SCDM24 Closing: Finding Tomorrow - How Science and a Bake Sale Partnered to Change the Course of a Terminal Disease

Join us for the #SCDM24 closing keynote and get inspired by Mark Dant’s story about how science and a bake sale partnered to change the course of a terminal disease and launch the golden age of Rare Disease drug development.

Mark Dant is the founder and Volunteer Executive Director of the Ryan Foundation. Mark founded the Ryan Foundation in 1992 shortly after their only child Ryan was diagnosed with MPS I. Since inception, the Ryan Foundation has funded millions in research and provided the critical funding that led to the development of Aldurazyme, the first and to date only drug FDA approved to treat MPS I.

Mark’s family’s journey has been documented on CBS 60 Minutes, the Today Show, CNN, Biography Magazine, Readers Digest in 13 languages around the world, Golf Digest, the LA Times and numerous newspapers and news outlets globally. Mark and his family have been key advocates speaking to the FDA and in 2009 successfully championed the US House of Representatives to pass the Ryan Dant Health Care Opportunity Act.

Mark, a police officer for 32 years, retired as an Assistant Chief of Police with the Carrollton Texas Police Department in 2016. Mark spends his time now leading the Ryan Foundation and volunteering for numerous other US and Global rare disease nonprofits to help empower the patient advocate through the understanding that all of us have the power to turn action to hope and hope to reality.

We couldn’t think of anyone better to close the 2024 Festival of Opportunity!