Idic15 Canada is a newly formed nonprofit society that was born from the need to advance medical resources and awareness in Canada for Idic15 (chromosome 15q 11–13 duplication syndrome). There are more than 40 affected families in Canada, but many areas of the country are not diagnosing the disorder because of a lack of medical awareness. Some cases exhibit symptoms that are similar to those observed in Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes, but a wide spectrum of manifestations may be present, ranging from asymptomatic cases to variable combinations of skeletal, neurological, gastrointestinal, psychological and other abnormalities in association with developmental delay.
The other founding principle we pride ourselves on is patient advocacy and research, which we support by implementing microgrant programs to foster real-world clinical research for real clinical results. We have established four clinics to date, in Toronto, Ontario; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Calgary, Alberta; and Vancouver, British Columbia, with expert physicians as our point persons. Please refer to our website for more information: www.idic15canada.ca.