Scientific Council :

Since 1981, AFM has relied on a Scientific Council to establish its scientific policy. Composed of volunteer researchers and clinicians, this body advises and proposes. It is responsible for determining priorities in research orientations, proposing them to the AFM Board of Directors and putting forward corresponding Calls for Research Proposals. It assesses the suitability and quality of the proposed research programs and later controls the quality of the work . It may call on national or international scientific experts to do so. Applications bearing the opinion of the Scientific Council are presented to the scientific commission of the Board of Directors which gives its opinion and pre-validates the project. The final validation of financial commitment is given by the Executive Committee or by the Board, depending on the scope of the projects.


Chaired by Michel Fardeau from 1981 to 1986, the major challenge of the first AFM Scientific Council was to promote and coordinate medical research on myopathies. From the onset, this Scientific Council also gave considerable thought and effort to what research on these pathologies should be.The policy of the second Scientific Council (1986 to 1997), chaired by François Gros, was to create maps of the human genome in order to identify genes responsible for genetic diseases, using scientific tools created by Généthon. With the publication of the genome maps, AFM started playing a major role in implementing genetic medicine.The third Scientific Council, chaired by Ketty Schwartz from 1998 to 2001 (then by interim vice-president M.Fradeau until December 2002), had a dual policy : the development of therapies and the recognition of myology as a genuine medical discipline.

The fourth Scientific Council established under the chairmanship of Ketty Schwartz in 2003 aims to continue developing gene-based therapies by drawing on the experience of the first clinical trials, to learn to control the differentiation of stem cells (in vivo and ex vivo ) towards muscle lineage and to study muscle interactomes (interactions which are necessary for the contractile function).

The fifth Scientific Council, in 2006, under the acting chairmanship of J.M Gillis, has adapted to these developments by establishing 3 commissions – the Medical, Therapy Development and Research Commissions.