New York, NY --- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research announced today that it has awarded 15 grants totaling more than $1.5 million to researchers pursuing a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease, a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects an estimated 1 million Americans, impairs the central nervous system causing difficulty with even the simplest of movements. Michael J. Fox established The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000, after publicly disclosing in 1998 that he had been diagnosed with the disease seven years earlier.
In keeping with its mission to expedite a cure for Parkinson’s, the Foundation implemented a rigorous, accelerated grant application review process for its initial round of research funding. The Foundation received nearly 200 grant applications from scientists representing 20 countries.
“This initial round of research grant funding represents an exciting first-step in our Foundation’s active involvement in the search for a Parkinson’s cure. The overwhelming number of proposals that were submitted affirm our belief that promising research opportunities exist, merely awaiting much-deserved funding,” said Michael J. Fox, Founder. “The Foundation remains committed to supporting as much research as possible—and at that end we hope to make additional awards within the next few months.”
The Foundation assembled a Grant Review Committee, comprised of 15 highly regarded scientists specializing in research areas relevant to Parkinson’s disease, to conduct its application review process. “The quality and variety of proposals we received was impressive,” said J. William Langston, MD, Scientific Director of The Parkinson’s Institute and Chief Scientific Advisor to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. “This first round of grants dramatically demonstrates the breadth and depth of innovative research that can be encouraged with an efficient and rapid funding process. I have no doubt that the results of these studies will advance our goals of finding the cause, cure and better treatments for Parkinson’s disease.”
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Researchers awarded funding by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research:
- Marina E. Emborg, MD, PhD, Rush University, Chicago, IL
- Matthew Goldberg, PhD./Jie Shen, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Stephen Kish, PhD, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
- Rüdiger Klein, PhD, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
- Ronald J. Mandel, PhD, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL
- Graeme Mardon, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
- Eliezer Masliah, MD, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
- Jose A. Obeso, MD, Clinica Universitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Amy Rubinstein, PhD, Zygogen LLc, Atlanta, GA
- Michael Schwarzschild, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Lorenz Studer, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
- Catherine Verfaillie, MD, Regents of The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
- Gail D. Zeevalk, PhD, Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, Piscataway, NJ
- Renping Zhou, PhD, Rutgers University Lab, New Brunswick, NJ
- Michael Zigmond, PhD/Ruth G. Perez, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Research abstracts for these grants as well as biographies for each grantee can be viewed on the Foundation’s Web site, www.michaeljfox.org.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research also announces it has already begun to work with the NIH and with other private foundations to develop plans for a joint funding initiative to support additional research in Parkinson’s disease.
“The NINDS congratulates the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research on their efforts to support research that will help us understand how Parkinson’s disease destroys crucial parts of the brain and develop strategies to halt or reverse this degeneration,” said Audrey S. Penn, MD, Acting Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “Over the next few months, we look forward to working with the Foundation as they join others in a larger public-private partnership to leverage our strengths in research funding and raise awareness of the needs as well as the exciting scientific opportunities in this field.”
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research is dedicated to the fastest possible end to Parkinson’s disease. The Foundation has launched a strategic campaign to accelerate, expand and focus funding for the world’s best research targeting effective treatment and prevention of Parkinson’s disease. The Michael J. Fox Foundation pursues every avenue available to increase federal funding, as well as support an aggressive fundraising effort in both private and corporate arenas to ensure that this critical battle is won within the decade. For more information on The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, visit www.michaeljfox.org.
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