About Us

Frances Saldaña is President Emeritus for HD-CARE, a UCIrvine Support Organization.  She served on the HDSA-Los Angeles Board of Directors from 2000 until 1997, and in 2000, she spearheaded the implementation of a Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) Affiliate in Orange County. In 2005, Frances and fellow HD patient advocates successfully advocated for an HD Clinic at UCI.  She co-founded HD-CARE in 2012. Frances served as an Ambassador with Americans for Cures, the organization that authored Proposition 71 in 2004, which created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

She has been a voice for Huntington’s Disease families in the last 30 and has been recognized by organizations throughout the country, among them, the UCIrvine “Living Our Values Award”, the “HDSA Woody Guthrie Advocate Award”, the Volvo Corporation “Volvo for Life Hometown Heroes Award”, the UCI School of Biological Science “Patient Advocacy Award”, and the Axis Advocacy “Mother Heart Award”.

Frances lost all three of her children and their father from Huntington’s Disease and continues to  advocate to promote excellence in care for the HD community, to educate HD families and the general public about HD, and to support HD research. Her unwavering hope is for a treatment for Huntington’s Disease in her lifetime.

She is author of  “Falling Angels – A Rhapsody of DNA, And A Family At War With Huntington’s Disease”.