CSNK2A1 Foundation

CSNK2A1 Foundation Our mission will be achieved by our OCNDS community working together as one.

CSNK2A1 Foundation is focused on finding a cure for Okur-Chung Neurodevelopmental Syndrome and ensuring affected individuals have the opportunities and supports necessary for happy and full lives. We have a 3-board structure that supports our ability to accelerate the path to treatment: It consists of the BOARD OF DIRECTORS, SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD and our PARENT ADVISORY BOARD. We have extensiv

e and lofty objectives for the next 3 years which will only be achieved by the entire OCNDS community working together. Our 3 year goals are to:

*Engage, educate and empower the global OCNDS patient community and strengthen the patient voice;

*Remove barriers to participation such as language, scientific knowledge, and socioeconomic;

*Provide opportunities for families, clinicians and researchers to work together to set research priorities;

*Augment all of our Boards - Board of Directors, Scientific Advisory Board, and Parent Advisory Board - with diverse global experts;

*Continue to develop reagents (e.g., IPSC cells, animal models) and make them widely available to researchers which will make it easier for researchers to develop treatments for OCNDS and gain a better understanding of OCNDS;

*Launch high-impact studies with researchers around the global to investigate the cause, key cell types, and new treatment targets for OCNDS;

*Maintain and grow our patient registry program;

*Facilitate and plan in-person and virtual family meetings to foster hope, community, collaboration and a further understanding of OCNDS;

*Continue to support the CSNK2A1/OCNDS international natural history study at Simons Searchlight and to grow our biobank;

*Collaborate, brainstorm, and work with other rare diseases groups;

*Raise the profile of OCNDS through media attention, public awareness campaigns, and advocacy; and

*Orchestrate expansion of fundraising efforts.

Siblings walk beside us in every bold breakthrough. 💫Siblings share in the challenges, celebrate the milestones, and bri...
06/02/2026

Siblings walk beside us in every bold breakthrough. 💫

Siblings share in the challenges, celebrate the milestones, and bring light to the journey. Their support helps drive every bold breakthrough we make together. 💙💚

🔬 Curious about clinical trials and rare disease research?Join the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) for a...
06/01/2026

🔬 Curious about clinical trials and rare disease research?

Join the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) for a free webinar, Participating in Clinical Research: What Patients and Families Need to Know, and learn how clinical trials work, what participation looks like, and where to find trusted support.

📅 June 11, 2026
⏰ 2:00 PM ET
💻 Free Virtual Webinar

You are encouraged to submit your questions in advance so the experts can be prepared to answer them!

🔗 Register here: https://loom.ly/d4DzgKI

🗓️ SAVE THE DATE! 🗓️Join us on Sunday, June 14th, for our bi-monthly OCNDS Family Zoom Meeting hosted by our Parent Advi...
06/01/2026

🗓️ SAVE THE DATE! 🗓️

Join us on Sunday, June 14th, for our bi-monthly OCNDS Family Zoom Meeting hosted by our Parent Advisory Board. We will discuss successes, challenges, and all things OCNDS. This meeting is only for primary caregivers, guardians, and those living with OCNDS. We will be using AI technology for live-caption translation. Most languages are supported by this technology.

When: Sunday, June 14th, 08:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting: https://loom.ly/ivxYrVg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

🕒 Need help with time zones? To make sure you join the call at the right time in your country, we recommend using World Time Buddy. It’s an easy tool where you can compare your local time with the meeting time.

👉 Just click this link, enter your city, and compare your time zone to 08:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada): https://loom.ly/oR_tzEQ

That way, you’ll know exactly what time the call starts for you—no confusion! 💙🌍

Rare disease life often requires taking leaps of faith.A leap of faith to try a new medication. To see a new specialist....
06/01/2026

Rare disease life often requires taking leaps of faith.

A leap of faith to try a new medication. To see a new specialist. To participate in research. To believe that even when progress feels slow, treatments are on the horizon.

This weekend, many of our UK OCNDS families did exactly that.

Eleven families came together to participate in a new research study led by Dr. Bajaj that will help characterize motor skills, behavior, sleep, sensory experiences, and other important aspects of life with OCNDS. For the first time, we are taking a deeper look at motor function in OCNDS, an area that has never been systematically characterized before.

This project was made possible through funding from the CSNK2A1 Foundation and Uplifting Athletes. As we continue moving closer to clinical trials, studies like this help build the foundation of knowledge needed to measure what matters most to families and evaluate future treatments.

We are excited that a virtual participation option will soon be available for English-speaking members of our global community.

A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Bajaj, Dr. Rushing, and Jennifer Sills for traveling across the pond to host this informal gathering and launch the study. Thank you to Lucy for helping us find such a wonderful space for families to come together. And thank you to Shelley and Jayne for ensuring the toys from the event will continue bringing joy by being donated to local foster children.

Research was the reason we gathered, but connection was what filled the room.

It was an emotional day for many of us. Families shared stories, asked questions, and spent time with people who truly understand the rare disease journey. At the end of the day, one of the hotel staff members remarked on how happy everyone seemed to be together.

And they were right.

Because sometimes the greatest reminder rare disease families can receive is that they are not walking this path alone. 💙🦋

🚨REMINDER!🚨Don't forget to join us for an upcoming Community Webinar featuring Grace Branger.Topic: Amplifying the Voice...
05/29/2026

🚨REMINDER!🚨

Don't forget to join us for an upcoming Community Webinar featuring Grace Branger.
Topic: Amplifying the Voices of OCNDS, A Disease Concept Model

This session will highlight how caregiver and patient experiences are being translated into structured data to better inform research, care, and future clinical trials in Okur-Chung Neurodevelopmental Syndrome (OCNDS).

🗓 June 27, 2026
⏰ 11 AM ET | 10 AM CT | 9 AM MT | 8 AM PT
📝 Register here: https://loom.ly/NYSZdpU

This webinar is open to all. Families, researchers, clinicians, and advocates are encouraged to attend and learn how everyday experiences are helping researchers better understand OCNDS.

Stories matter. Science moves research forward, but stories build connection, awareness, and urgency. 💙Recently, our Pre...
05/25/2026

Stories matter. Science moves research forward, but stories build connection, awareness, and urgency. 💙

Recently, our President Jennifer Sills participated in a Story Collider workshop focused on storytelling, where she reflected on her family’s journey, the early days after her daughter’s diagnosis, and how those moments ultimately led to the creation of the CSNK2A1 Foundation.

The result is a powerful reflection on what can happen when a family refuses to accept “good luck” as an answer.

We hope you will take a few minutes to listen and share.

Listen here: https://loom.ly/OMlyfc8

🌟 Your Voice Makes a Difference! 🌟 Have you been impacted by the CSNK2A1 Foundation? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Sh...
05/22/2026

🌟 Your Voice Makes a Difference! 🌟

Have you been impacted by the CSNK2A1 Foundation? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Sharing your experience helps us grow, reach more families, and continue driving . 💙💚

💬 Here’s what one supporter had to say:
"This is my first experience working with a nonprofit, and I've been impressed by how their culture truly models a strong, supportive community where everyone feels valued and connected."

📝 Leave your own review or read more:
👉 https://loom.ly/2I3CbdU

Thank you for being part of our journey. Every story, every voice, every review matters. 💫

🐝Happy World Bee Day! 🐝Bees are essential to our planet’s health—pollinating thousands of flowers and fueling vibrant ec...
05/20/2026

🐝Happy World Bee Day! 🐝

Bees are essential to our planet’s health—pollinating thousands of flowers and fueling vibrant ecosystems. On this special day, we celebrate their tiny, tireless work and reflect on how that relates to our efforts in the rare disease community.

As Dr. Gabrielle Rushing writes in her blog, “Just as a bee’s small efforts in pollination lead to the flourishing of vast ecosystems, so too do the small acts of families in the rare disease world leave a lasting impact.”

🌼 Even though we’re a small community, every daily, thoughtful act—each conversation had, each connection made, each advocacy step taken—creates ripples of change.

Read Dr. Rushing's blog here: https://loom.ly/R7cyFnk

Together, we buzz with purpose. 💙💚

We’re excited to share how tools like Citizen Health are beginning to change what is possible for families in our commun...
05/19/2026

We’re excited to share how tools like Citizen Health are beginning to change what is possible for families in our community. Their “AI advocate” is designed to sit alongside you, helping navigate complex systems, organize medical information, and reduce the overwhelming administrative burden that so many of our families face every day. Recently, our founder used this AI advocate together with MyMejo to complete conservatorship paperwork, a process that can take countless hours, and it dramatically streamlined the experience. This is exactly why participation matters for our families: not only can these tools give you back precious time and support better day to day decision making, but by contributing your data, you are also helping build the knowledge base that drives research forward and accelerates the path to treatments for OCNDS.

Thank you CNBC Cures for featuring Citizen Health and highlighting how AI is transforming the rare disease space. For families like ours, this kind of innovation is not just exciting, it is essential.

Read the article here: https://loom.ly/YN_S6Uo

AI-powered healthcare startup Citizen Health is using the technology to focus on rare disease, helping manage patient lives as well as advance treatments.

We are excited to share the publication of our new conference summary paper: “Okur–Chung Neurodevelopmental Syndrome: Pr...
05/15/2026

We are excited to share the publication of our new conference summary paper: “Okur–Chung Neurodevelopmental Syndrome: Progress and Priorities from the 2025 Connect & Collaborate Conference”

This paper highlights key discussions, scientific advances, research priorities, and collaborative efforts shaping the future of OCNDS research and therapeutic development.

Read the official published article here: https://doi.org/10.1177/22146490261444646

For families and community members, we have also provided the peer-reviewed accepted manuscript version on our website to support accessibility (shared in accordance with publisher sharing policies and is not the final journal-formatted publication): https://loom.ly/mu4GRBc

We are deeply grateful to everyone who contributed to the conference and to the growing global OCNDS community helping accelerate progress every day.

Address

1929 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA
94109

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when CSNK2A1 Foundation posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to CSNK2A1 Foundation:

Share