Dawn (Torrence) Ireland founded CHERUBS – The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support in 1995 and now has over 25 years of extensive experience with CDH patients, families and researchers. She was President of CHERUBS for 22 years.
In 2017, Dawn became President of the newly renamed, CDH International and leads the Board of Directors and the Research Department.
Dawn is the creator and administrator of the CDH Patient Registry, a global natural history database of over 6500 Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia patients that now collaborates with DHREAMS (Columbia University), Massachusetts General and WOFAPS.
Along with other leaders, Dawn is one of the Founders of the Alliance of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Organizations (ACDHO), the first collaborative group of CDH charities ever formed. She also co-authored the ACDHO Charter, creating a better guideline for professionalism in the CDH community.
Dawn is also the driving force behind our work with the World Health Organization, the CDH Liaison for National Institutes of Child Health & Diseases at NIC, an Advisor for the Kids First Database at NIH, a Founding Member of the Rare Advocacy Movement, a member of the Global Initiative for Children Surgery, a member of the Surgical Anomalies Committee at GICS, a member of many rare disease and medical groups, and a regular attendee and speaker at many medical and pharmaceutical conferences representing CDH and rare disease patients including at the CDH Study Group meetings.
Dawn’s passion for fighting Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia began with the birth of her son, Shane, in 1993 and his subsequent death in 1999.
