{"id":4705,"date":"2026-02-26T12:48:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/?p=4705"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:51:00","slug":"dr-kim-stephens-represents-the-muenzer-mps-center-on-capitol-hill-during-rare-disease-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/2026\/02\/dr-kim-stephens-represents-the-muenzer-mps-center-on-capitol-hill-during-rare-disease-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Kim Stephens Represents the Muenzer MPS Center on Capitol Hill During Rare Disease Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4706\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 235px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4706\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-600x800.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Dr. Kim Stephens on Capitol Hill for Rare Disease week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-start=\"200\" data-end=\"384\">During Rare Disease Week, Dr. Kim Stephens was on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., representing the UNC Muenzer MPS Research &amp; Treatment Center and the broader rare disease community.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"386\" data-end=\"584\">Advocacy is an important part of advancing research, improving access to care, and ensuring that the needs of individuals and families living with rare diseases are recognized at the national level.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"586\" data-end=\"800\">Through participation in discussions with policymakers and stakeholders, Dr. Stephens helped highlight the importance of continued support for rare disease research, clinical care, and patient-centered initiatives.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"802\" data-end=\"1050\">Opportunities like Rare Disease Week provide a valuable platform to share the impact of conditions such as mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) and reinforce the need for ongoing collaboration between clinicians, researchers, advocates, and decision-makers.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1052\" data-end=\"1249\">The Muenzer MPS Research &amp; Treatment Center is proud to be part of these conversations and remains committed to supporting the rare disease community through clinical care, research, and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During Rare Disease Week, Dr. Kim Stephens was on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., representing the UNC Muenzer MPS Research &amp; Treatment Center and the broader rare disease community. Advocacy is an important part of advancing research, improving access to care, and ensuring that the needs of individuals and families living with rare diseases are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/2026\/02\/dr-kim-stephens-represents-the-muenzer-mps-center-on-capitol-hill-during-rare-disease-week\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Dr. Kim Stephens Represents the Muenzer MPS Center on Capitol Hill During Rare Disease Week\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119071,"featured_media":4706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-scaled.jpeg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-225x300.jpeg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-768x1024.jpeg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-768x1024.jpeg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1312\/2026\/02\/IMG_4643-150x150.jpeg","featured_image_alt":"","category_details":[{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/category\/news\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4707,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions\/4707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/muenzer-mps-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}