Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Human Genetics and Metabolism at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania. She also directs the Gene Therapy for Inherited Metabolic Diseases Frontier Program at CHOP.  After completing MD/PhD training in Physiology and Biophysics, she pursued clinical training in Pediatrics, Clinical Genetics, and Metabolism. She cares for children with rare diseases, with a special interest in neurometabolic disorders. Her research laboratory focuses both on gene discovery and elucidating the pathologic mechanisms underlying rare diseases to guide therapy development. She also partners with advocacy groups to conduct natural history and biomarker studies to promote clinical trial readiness for these rare conditions.