On April 3, 1994, Professor Jerome Lejeune passed away stating: “I was the one that was supposed to heal them, and now I am going before my work is complete.”

For 20 years, the Jerome Lejeune Foundation has carried on the work and upheld the legacy of love and care that characterized Dr. Jerome Lejeune, always seeking to treat and protect those who have been affected by Down syndrome and other genetic intellectual disabilities.

Dr. Jerome Lejeune’s work, 20 years later, is still strikingly relevant to doctors and researchers working in Down syndrome and genetic intellectual disability. Tremendous progress has been made in research and medical care since his death, and his hope that treatments would one day become available are now more real than ever.

Every day, Dr. Lejeune’s reminders of our obligations to the vulnerable among us call us to defend those with genetic intellectual disabilities from discrimination in every form, especially prenatal discrimination. Twenty years later and great progress has been made, but tremendous challenges still lie ahead.

Dr. Lejeune opened the gate and showed us the path to ethical research, compassionate care, and advocacy for those living with Down syndrome and other genetic intellectual disabilities. His was a life well worth remembering!