Debra Miller

Debra Miller is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of CureDuchenne, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and funding a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative neuromuscular disease. She founded CureDuchenne in 2003 after her only son, Hawken, was diagnosed with Duchenne and very little was known about the disease. At the time, there were no available treatments and no hope for a cure.

Today, CureDuchenne is recognized as a global leader in research, patient care, and innovation for improving and extending the lives of those with Duchenne. CureDuchenne’s innovative venture philanthropy model has advanced transformative treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, including 17 projects that advanced to human clinical trials and multiple projects to overcome the limitations of exon-skipping and gene therapy. In addition, CureDuchenne contributed early funding to the first FDA-approved Duchenne drug, pioneered the first and only Duchenne physical and occupational therapist certification program and created an innovative biobank and data registry, accelerating research toward a cure.

Prior to creating CureDuchenne, Debra worked in publishing with positions at IDG Communications, Cahners Publishing, Ziff-Davis Publishing, Scholastic Publishing, and more. Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of California Los Angeles.

She currently serves on the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine Board, Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Committee Programmatic Panel, and the Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium. Debra has received numerous awards, including the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) Rare Impact Award, Coast Magazine Woman of the Year, and the County Orange County Business Journal’s Women in Business Award.