World Duchenne Awareness Day

Meet Stephen Chrzanowski, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology and pediatrics, and new co-director of the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) program at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Dr. Chrzanowski was born in Michigan and grew up in Ohio where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He traversed to the swamps of Gainesville, Florida to attend the University of Florida College of Medicine earning his MD and PhD degrees studying muscle physiology under the mentorship of Drs. Glenn Walter and Krista Vandenborne in the ImagingDMD group. He then moved to Massachusetts to complete pediatrics and child neurology residencies at Boston Children’s Hospital and a Neuromuscular Fellowship at Mass General Brigham, working under the auspices of Dr. Seward Rutkove, developing an understanding of electrical impedance myography (EIM), to assess skeletal muscle health. 

Interested in pediatric neuromuscular disorders, Dr. Chrzanowski formed his research lab to study if implementing earlier interventions alters long-term outcomes through the development and quantification of novel treatments. His research is designed to ask, “If non-invasive quantitative outcome measures, such as, electrical impedance myography (EIM) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can serve as sensitive and qualitative outcome measures in both pre-clinical and clinical states.”  In 2024, Dr. Chrzanowski was awarded the  2024 Taeun Chang Outstanding Junior Member Post Graduate Award on behalf of the Child Neurology Society (CNS). 

Dr. Chrzanowski was inspired in his childhood sharing, “I witnessed my best friend’s older brother who had DMD, and the family manage his illness, and the lack of treatment available for him. This led me to volunteer in the summer Muscular Dystrophy Association camps, assimilating me into the neuromuscular family. With incredible mentors from undergraduate to UMass Chan, I have been fortunate to be able to have an opportunity to be a part of history as we redefine the trajectory of this terrible illness.” 

Outside of the health sector, Dr. Chrzanowski may be recognized for winning a steak-eating competition. He used to brew his own beer as a hobby and has two letters from two presidents hanging on his walls.