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Operational Vice President, Research-Nemours Children's Health System
Director, Molecular Diagnostic Lab, Nemours/Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children
Laboratory Head-Musculoskeletal Inherited Disease (MID) Lab
Chief, Musculoskeletal Inherited Disease Research Program, Department of Medical Research, Nemours/Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
Adjunct Professor, College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware
Internal Advisory Committee-CPR
Chair IAC, Delaware Clinical and Translational ACCEL Program
Member of INBRE Steering Committee
Nemours Biomedical Research
Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
Nemours Biomedical Research
1600 Rockland Road
Wilmington, DE 19803
Email: vfunanag@nemours.org
Phone: (302) 651-6819
Fax: (302) 651-6876
Postdoctoral, A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children
Ph.D., Biological Sciences, University of Delaware
M.S., Genetics, Pennsylvania State University
B.S., Biology, Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Funanage received a BS in biology and a Master’s degree in genetics from the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. Following her Ph.D. she joined Nemours in 1981 where she worked under the direction of the Chief of Microbial Genetics at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware.
From 2000-2014, she was the Director of Biomedical Research of the Nemours Foundation and was appointed Operational Vice President, Research-Nemours Children’s Health System in August 2014. Although located in Wilmington, Dr. Funanage oversees all operating functions for the Delaware and Florida research programs and is also responsible for spearheading research partnerships and collaborative initiatives with the scientific, medical and educational communities. In addition, she is Director of Medical Research, Director of the Molecular Diagnostic Lab (genetests.org), and Chief of the Musculoskeletal Inherited Disease Research Program, at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. She is also Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA.
Ongoing research conducted in Dr. Funanage’s laboratory involves projects designed to provide benefit to children afflicted with neuromuscular diseases such as muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, and myotonic dystrophy. In addition, Dr. Funanage is involved in a number of collaborative efforts including the study of leptin, an important hormone that regulates energy metabolism and utilization and its importance in fetal and neonatal growth and development; and investigation of the genetic and biochemical basis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. She has received numerous honors, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award in Biological Sciences from the University of Delaware and the Bleyer Family Humanitarian Award from the Huntington’s Disease Society. Dr. Funanage also holds six U.S. patents and one international patent for her research work.
Dr. Funanage has extensive leadership experience throughout the Delaware Valley including service on the Research and Development Task Force for the Delaware Health Science Alliance (DHSA), the DHSA Coordinating Council, the DE-INBRE steering committee, the UD College of Health Sciences Advisory Committee, the Delaware Valley Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences Executive Committee, the Internal Advisory Committee for the COBRE Center for Pediatric Research, and Chair of the Internal Advisory Committee for the Delaware Clinical and Translational Research Program.