Julia Vitarello

Background

About Julia Vitarello

In December 2016, Julia founded Mila's Miracle Foundation (MMF) upon learning that her seemingly healthy six-year-old daughter Mila had Batten disease, a devastating fatal genetic condition. In a race against time, Julia raised in grass-roots efforts from over supporters in 60 countries, while at the same time being a mother and caregiver. In an unprecedented collaboration led by Julia and Dr. Timothy Yu from Boston Children’s Hospital, Mila became the first person in the world to receive a drug tailored to just one person - named milasen. Driven by a sense of hope and obligation, Julia is on a mission to open up the new filed of individualized medicine and make it accessible to children across all rare diseases who otherwise would have no hope. Through MMF, Julia initiated the work toward a novel gene therapy targeting the MFSD8/Batten CLN7 gene which began in Spring 2021 and launched a Batten and Neurodegenerative Disease Clinic at Children's Hospital Colorado. Through MMF, she hosts scientific meetings, funds basic science projects in the US and Europe, and speaks at scientific meetings and conferences across the country.