According to a press release sent out by Nemours Children’s Hospital, Richard S. Finkel, M.D., the chief of neurology at Nemours Children’s Hospital, was awarded with the American Academy of Neurology’s 2018 Sidney Carter Award in Child Neurology.

He has been working in Pediatric Neurology since 2012 and has been breaking new ground in helping children who suffer from muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) since. Finkel is also praised for the studies he has published on a new drug called Nusinersen in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug is supposed to treat kids with SMA and restore muscular motor patterns.

In the press release, Finkel states, “I’m honored to be receiving this prestigious recognition. It’s both rewarding and humbling to work so closely with my families. My inspiration comes from the patients I get to see develop and flourish through the years.”

Before Finkel’s development of Nusinersen, there was nothing like it to treat infants. The babies were “destined to have a short lifespan and limited motor function,” he says.

The FDA has officially approved Nusinersen, and it is currently selling under the name Spinraza. The drug can be used for patients of any age with SMA. “The new therapy demonstrates the life-saving possibilities of ‘precision medicine’ for patients with devastating chronic diseases,” states the hospital’s news release.