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Finding a cure
for ALS takes more than knowledge. It requires a certain synergy
among researchers, patients and their families, and other caring
individuals and organizations who want to work together to end
this devastating disease—now. This collaborative spirit
fuels every aspect of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research—from
new investigations in the lab to fundraising events around the
country.
Extraordinary things happen when people merge their abilities,
their resources, and their passion to make a difference. This
year, the Packard Center celebrates achievements that could
never have occurred in isolation. Collaboration brings out
the best—and brings us closer to a cure.
In this annual report, you will read about MDA’s Wings
Over Wall Street™ event, which resulted in a $1-million
gift to the Packard Center. You’ll learn of an exciting
new partnership between golfing great Tom Watson and the Bob
Packard Cup, projected to raise $500,000 for the Center’s
research. And there are many more collaborative efforts to
highlight. The Coleman Foundation, for example, donated $10,000
to support the Center’s monthly scientific meetings.
The gift—made in honor of Laura Matlaw Murphy, an Atlanta
lawyer who died from ALS last fall—ensures that our
researchers will continue to have a forum for sharing their
latest findings.
Thanks to Chris Pendergast, the never-give-up New York teacher
who founded the ALS nonprofit Ride for Life, the Center received
a gift of $55,800 this year for drug screening research. We
are collaborating for the first time with ALSA on this project.
This new alliance, like our other organizational ties, helps
to advance the Packard Center’s mission even faster.
The pages that follow tell of other individuals, foundations,
and corporations—and the cutting-edge research made
possible by their generosity. In 2003, the Center awarded
more than $2.5 million to fund 18 projects. The investment
is already reaping dividends in terms of new discoveries.
Packard Center scientists are regularly tapped to join national
and international symposia, in part because our Scientific
Advisory Committee makes sure they’re following the
most promising research paths. Since last year, for example,
we’ve placed new emphasis on stem cell research, mitochondrial
damage, tissue repair and, more immediately important, on
developing new therapeutics.
Collaboration among our researchers and our donors will continue
at the Packard Center this year and beyond as we work to discover—together—the
cure for ALS
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