June 5, 1942 - July 3, 2019
HCU Network America mourns the loss of another metabolic hero and pioneer, Dr. Jan Kraus. Jan passed away on Thursday, July 4th after a courageous battle with lung cancer.
Jan was a Professor in Pediatric of Clinical Genetics and Metabolism at the University of Colorado. Jan, considered by many as the “Father of Homocystinuria”, dedicated his life's work to the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of Homocystinuria (HCU) and Proprionic Acidemia (PA). Since the 1960's, Jan has authored and co-authored over 160 publications regarding HCU and PA. Jan's career highlights include building a database of all the genetic mutations associated with Homocystinuria, as well as being the inventor for the OT-58 product (a pegylated version of the CBS enzyme) that is in human trials for Classical Homocystinuria patients. The community will never forget Jan and his commitment to patients and families suffering from these diseases, and we send our sincere condolences to his wife Eva and family.
“Jan was a committed and bright researcher who wanted to use his talent to alleviate and prevent suffering from rare metabolic diseases. I first met Jan in 2009 when I was searching for information on how to screen family members for HCU, and he helped my family unravel the genetic puzzle of the defects that caused HCU in my sisters, determine which family members were carriers and how we could screen their children and partners to give peace of mind that HCU would not be passed along. I was so excited to hear about the Enzyme Replacement Therapy he had discovered, which he made sure advanced into development so it could get to patients. Jan also helped set up the first ever patient/family meeting in Denver in 2011, and encouraged us to establish HCU Network America so we could help patients and families deal with the disease. He also served as a member of our Global Scientific Advisory Board for HCU Research Grants. I will miss Jan and his kind demeanor and warm smile, but know his legacy lives in though his research contributions as well as the Researchers he mentored, including Tomas Majtan at the University of Colorado and Viktor Kozich at Charles University in Prague."
- HCU Network America President, Margie McGlynn
