In the past two decades we have experienced rapid evolution in our understanding of the molecular and biological basis of many pediatric neuromuscular diseases.  As a result, there has been an increased need to understand disease natural history and to develop assessment methodology to support design of intervention-focused clinical trials.  

Over the past 17 years Dr. Henricson served first as co-director of the 25-site Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG) (www.cinrgresearch.org) and then as a co-founder of the Neuromuscular Research Center in the UC Davis Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.  

He has been a leader in the development of neuromuscular disease-directed clinical trials, clinical and patient-reported outcome measures for use in clinical trials, and establishment of an international infrastructure in which to conduct those trials.  

His work has focused in four main areas, including development of assessments for clinical trials, conduct of “bench-to-bedside” translational research, epidemiologic “natural history” studies of neuromuscular disease, and assessment of community mobility. 

Since 2005, Dr. Henricson has been co-chair of the UC Davis / CINRG Duchenne Natural History Study, integrating clinical, person-reported, genetic and biomarker data from boys and young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) at 20 collaborating medical centers worldwide.  

The study updates our understanding of the natural history of DMD and is among the first of its kind to examine the link between genetic characteristics, treatment response, strength and function and community mobility to explain variations in disease progression.  

Dr. Henricson is currently working to develop new tools to measure functional health and mobility in the lab and in the community using technology-enabled measurement tools and patient-reported questionnaires, and to examine neurocognitive aspects of neuromuscular diseases including DMD.