Sarepta accepting applications for Route 79 scholarship program
Awards up to $5K will go to DMD patients and their siblings
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Sarepta Therapeutics is calling for applications for the 6th annual Route 79, The Duchenne Scholarship Program, for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The scholarships, of up to $5,000, will be awarded to up to 20 students living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and up to five siblings of people with the disease.
Applications will be accepted until May 5, at 11:59 p.m. PDT, and the recipients will be notified before August. The awards will be given directly to trade, technical or vocational schools, or colleges and universities in time for enrollment in the fall.
“Now in its sixth year, Route 79, The Duchenne Scholarship Program is a demonstration of our deep commitment to the Duchenne community, and we are thrilled to again expand the program by awarding five additional scholarships to students living with Duchenne,” Diane Berry, PhD, senior vice president of global health policy, government and patient affairs at Sarepta, said in a press release.
“We understand the impact Duchenne can have on the entire family, and so for the second year, we will award five scholarships to siblings of an individual with Duchenne,” she added.
Scholarship program named for DMD gene’s 79 exons
Duchenne is the most common type of muscular dystrophy, characterized by progressive muscle weakness and wasting. It is caused by mutations in the DMD gene, which provides instructions to produce the dystrophin protein. This protein plays an essential role in muscle health.
Genes contain alternate pieces of genetic code, called introns and exons, with exons containing the instructions to produce proteins. DMD is the largest human gene, with 79 exons. In Duchenne, mutations in DMD typically disrupt the gene’s reading frame to produce dystrophin.
Route 79, named after DMD‘s 79 exons, aims to support students with Duchenne, or siblings of people living with the condition, to pursue post-secondary education. Eligible applicants must be accepted or enrolled in an accredited college or university, or a trade, a technical or vocational school in the U.S. Also eligible are college seniors and college graduates accepted to or enrolled in a graduate school.
The recipients will be selected by an independent committee of DMD community members, who will consider applicants’ essays, their level of community involvement, and a recommendation letter.
The selection panel is blinded to the applicants’ names, as well as to whether they have received, or plan to receive, a Sarepta treatment. Sarepta markets the DMD therapies Amondys 45, Exondys 51, and Vyondys 53.
We continue to be impressed and inspired by each student’s story and commitment to their educational goals, and we look forward to reviewing applications from all the Route 79 applicants for the 2023-2024 academic year.
To ensure complete impartiality, the program is administered by International Scholarship and Tuition Services, a company specialized in managing sponsored scholarship programs.
“Since 2018, we’ve had the privilege of awarding 84 Route 79 scholarships to students living with Duchenne and five scholarships to students who have siblings with Duchenne. We continue to be impressed and inspired by each student’s story and commitment to their educational goals, and we look forward to reviewing applications from all the Route 79 applicants for the 2023-2024 academic year,” Berry said.
Previous Route 79 scholarship beneficiaries are pursuing associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees in several areas of study, including classics and political science, computer science, journalism, law, business, and hospital management.
“I hope that I will soon be able to enter medical school and become a physician so that I will be able to give back to the community that shaped my life,” Dylan, a Duchenne sibling and previous scholarship winner, said in a statement on the Route 79 website.
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