About HD Genetics

B.J. Viau (View)

Founder & President of HD Genetics

B.J. has been actively involved in the Huntington’s disease (HD) community since his mother’s diagnosis in 1995. His commitment began with a family-run Hoop-A-Thon fundraiser (1995–2012) and grew into co-founding the Huntington’s Disease Youth Organization (HDYO), an international nonprofit dedicated to supporting, educating, and motivating young people impacted by HD. He served as HDYO’s Board Chairman for a decade before stepping down in 2020 to focus on launching HD Genetics.

Professionally, B.J. has spent over 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of roles, including his time at Lundbeck during the launch of the first FDA-approved medicine for Huntington’s chorea. Today, he leads PatientViau, a strategic consulting company that helps healthcare organizations strengthen partnerships with patient advocacy groups.

Although he tested negative for HD in 2010, B.J. remains deeply committed to the community. He is passionate about guiding individuals through their genetic testing journey, connecting families to research, and advancing HD science. He has participated in multiple observational studies, including PREDICT-HD, PREVENT-HD, ENROLL-HD, and HD Clarity. He shared his HD journey that you can watch via this video, and he wrote a regular column for Huntington’s Disease News.

B.J. holds an undergraduate degree from the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He lives in Charlotte, NC, where he enjoys golf, fitness, traveling, and spending time with his family. You can reach him directly about anything related to HD Genetics at BJ@hdgenetics.com

Wes Solem, ScM, CGC

Director of Genetics

Wes is a Certified Genetic Counselor (CGC) through the American Board of Genetic Counseling. He earned a Master of Science in Genetic Counseling from Johns Hopkins University in 2021. As part of this program, Wes was an Intramural Research Trainee for the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  His graduate thesis research was titled “COVID-19 Impact on Genetic Counseling for Huntington’s Disease via Teleheath”. Prior to graduate studies, Wes worked as an undergraduate laboratory assistant for Dr. Jeff Carroll at Western Washington University, studying the neurobiology and behavior of mice modeling Huntington’s disease. In 2018, Wes was selected for HDSA’s Donald A King Research Fellowship and in 2019 earned a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Wes runs all of HD Genetics’ counseling sessions and will be the main point of contact throughout the genetic testing and counseling experience. You can reach out to Wes anytime with questions: Wes@HDgenetics.com

Dr. Liz Ferluga MD

Consulting Neurologist

Dr. Ferluga is a movement disorder specialist and board-certified neurologist. She has interests in increasing access to care and telemedicine. She graduated with her medical degree from University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in 2007. She completed her residency at Vanderbilt where she served as chief resident in 2011. She went on to complete movement disorders fellowship in 2013. Since that time, she has worked as a movement disorder specialist at Vanderbilt and then at Erlanger Hospital. While at Erlanger, she served as the director of their HD center of excellence partner site from 2016 to 2023. She is now working as a tele-neurologist focused on treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

She lives with her husband and 4 cats in Chattanooga, TN. Current hobbies include pottery, coloring, knitting, and swimming. She loves to travel. She is always up to start planning her next adventure. Her bucket list places include Australia, Japan, and Egypt.

Dr. Ferluga is a licensed physician across many states and oversees HD Genetics’ genetic testing orders in states that require a prescriber to initiate orders.

Spencer Diehl, LISW

Clinical Study Navigator

Spencer Diehl is an independently licensed clinical social worker and mental health provider with Vanderbilt Medical Group and Co-Director of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s HDSA Center of Excellence. Spencer earned his undergraduate degree at Boston University and graduate degree from Simmons University and worked with veteran community mental health and supported housing programming at the Veterans Administration before joining Vanderbilt. Spencer is interested in telehealth behavioral health resources as a means to increase health service integration and psychotherapy within adult neurology settings. Spencer has areas of interest in interventions focused on development of meaning and purpose as well as existential issues, stress response and coping, positive psychology, performance psychology, neurodegenerative conditions, chronic mental health issues, psychosis, crisis management, and veterans’ issues.

Spencer runs HD Genetics’ new service, the Clinical Study Navigator, that will support individuals who are participating in specific HD clinical studies.

Arvind Sreedharan

Arvind has over 31 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience in commercial roles of increasing responsibility at Ciba-Geigy, Abbott Laboratories, Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Auspex Pharmaceuticals, and AveXis and presently is SVP of Business Operations at Neurogene.

Arvind served as Vice President of Marketing at Auspex Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company that brought the medication Austedo to market for chorea associated with HD and was acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical in 2015. Before Auspex, he served as Director, Movement Disorders at Lundbeck, where he played an integral commercial role in the successful product launch and management of Xenazine®, the first and only FDA-approved drug for the treatment of chorea associated with Huntington’s disease. He is the current board chair of the Huntington’s Disease Study Group (HSG) and previously served on the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) board of trustees for six years and was the volunteer President of HDSA’s Illinois Chapter.

“I’m indebted to the HD community for everything they have done for me personally and professionally. I will always support and give back to the HD community.” – Arvind

Dr. Martha Nance

Dr. Nance is a board-certified neurologist and clinical geneticist with special interest in movement disorders, such as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, hereditary ataxias and spastic paraplegias, as well as other neurogenetic disorders. She has served as the medical director of HDSA’s Center of Excellence at Hennepin HealthCare in Minneapolis, MN since 1995 and the Struthers Parkinson’s Center since 2000.

In addition to the care of patients and families with neurologic diseases, she is involved in clinical research to develop better treatments for Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease. She currently serves as a clinical professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota and is an active volunteer with many of the HD advocacy organizations including HDSA, HSG, HDYO and others!

“I have been involved in genetic testing for HD since before the gene was identified in 1993! I am very pleased to support the efforts of HD GENETICS to help people who are risk for HD—anywhere in the US– to have access to skilled and timely counseling and testing for this disease” – Dr. Nance

Michael Berman

Michael has over 40 years of experience in the financial services industry and is currently chairman of Applied Capital Management, a private investment management firm.
Michael is the founder of HDSA’s Berman-Toppler Fellowship that awards young scientists three-year grants to focus their time and energy on Huntington’s Disease science research. Michael serves as a board member of Atalanta Therapeutics.

“Genetic testing is a useful, important tool in the fight against HD.  We must never forget that a patient and family are involved, and that those who are encouraged to receive testing are treated in an ethical and compassionate manner. .” – Michael