The Huntington’s Disease Foundation (HDF) began in 1968 after the wife of Dr. Milton Wexler was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD). Determined to fight the illness that now threatened his two daughters, Wexler joined the Committee to Combat Huntington’s Disease (CCHD), established by Marjorie Guthrie following the death of her husband, poet and songwriter Woody Guthrie. Six years later, recognizing the need for basic research on HD, Wexler separated from CCHD to form what is today the Huntington’s Disease Foundation. Milton’s younger daughter, Nancy Wexler, joined this effort. Every year from 1981 until 2002, under the aegis of the HDF, Nancy led a team of researchers to Venezuela to gather clinical data and biological samples while offering some medical assistance to the world’s largest known family affected by HD. In 1983, this work led to the identification of a genetic marker for HD, a landmark moment in the field of genetics. The HDF subsequently formed an historic collaborative group known as the Gene Hunters who, in 1993, isolated the expanded HD gene itself. This discovery laid the foundation for all subsequent research on HD.