Catherine Jayasuriya | Executive Director of Coalition Duchenne Director
Coalition Duchenne | United States

Catherine Jayasuriya is a film director and the founder and executive director of Coalition Duchenne, a non-profit focused on raising funds and awareness for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Catherine is half Malaysian and half English, and lives with her husband and three children in California. Her 24-year-old son Dusty Brandom has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Coalition Duchenne’s mission is to raise global awareness and funding for Duchenne research, with a focus on cardiac and pulmonary initiatives.

Catherine is the director of award-winning documentary Dusty’s Trail: Summit of Borneo, distributed internationally by Cinema Libre. The inspirational film tells the story of people coming from around the world to climb Mt Kinabalu in Malaysia to raise awareness for Duchenne.

Coalition Duchenne funds ground-breaking research with leading institutions in the United States, most recently with Dr. Eduardo Marban at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles working on cardiac stem cells.

Catherine has lobbied extensively on Capitol Hill to engage US lawmakers in funding Duchenne research and care. Recently she testified at a historic FDA meeting approving the first drug to specifically treat Duchenne.

Coalition Duchenne recently started the Coalition Duchenne Outreach Initiative, a project distributing AMBU-bags to boys with Duchenne in rural areas around the world.