Tulane health experts appointed to state board to help Louisianans with rare diseases

Gov. John Bel Edwards has appointed two physicians and a licensed clinical social worker from Tulane University School of Medicine to the Louisiana Rare Disease Advisory Council, a new panel that will offer expert and clinical advice to the state to help address the needs of those diagnosed and living with rare diseases.

Dr. Hans C. Andersson, Jennifer L. Borrillo and Dr. Ross C. Klingsberg will join the 10-member council. Andersson, director of the Hayward Genetics Center at the School of Medicine, will serve as a physician with experience in researching, diagnosing and treating rare diseases. Borrillo, director of the Louisiana Center for Bleeding and Clotting Disorders at Tulane, and Klingsberg, the adult cystic fibrosis program director, will advise on rare disease research.

The council will offer policy advice to the Louisiana Department of Health, the governor and the legislature on sickle cell disease, sarcoidosis and other diseases considered rare in that they affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.

“These appointments by Governor Edwards recognize the expertise we have here at the School of Medicine,” said Lee Hamm, MD, Senior Vice President and Dean of Tulane University School of Medicine. “I’m confident these three Tulane experts will help advance the understanding of rare diseases and treatment for these patients here in Louisiana.”