Putting Parkinson’s Disease on Top of the World: Searching for the Cure -- Part 2 of 4.

Sherrie Gould on current fundraising efforts
for Stem Cell Research. 

Part one of the Howell Foundation's Panel on Parkinson's Disease presented the latest research being conducted by Jeanne F. Loring, Ph.D., Research Professor at Scripps Research Institute.  NIH funding for this kind of research has dropped by 34%.  A research program such as the one Dr. Loring is conducting has only a 1 in 10 chance of being funded by NIH.  So funding additional lines of research requires more creativity each day.

Funds are currently and concurrently -- and very creatively-- being raised under the leadership of Sherrie Gould, a nurse practitioner in the Scripps Clinic Division of Neurology’s Movement Disorder Clinic and a founding member of the Parkinson’s Association’s Summit4Stem Cell (S4SC) Fundraising Group.  

An active partner with Scripps, the Parkinson’s Association provides the most relevant news and resources on advances in Parkinson’s.  It has also had  tremendous success in raising research monies for the clinical trials of stem cell transplantation at Scripps, led by Drs. Jeanne Loring and Melissa Houser.

To  date the organization has raised sufficient funds for 8 Parkinson’s patients to be transplanted with their own stem cells through a private, closed pilot project.  This year alone, Summit4Stem Cells raised over a million dollars.  The secret to their success lies in two main factors:  the promise of the transplant treatment, and the involvement of Parkinson’s Disease patients and their family members. 

It was Parkinson’s Disease patients and family members who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and to the base camp of Mount Everest with Ms. Gould– an extraordinary way to continue funding current stem cell research.  Next year Sherrie Gould will be leading the “Pedaling for Parkinson’s” fundraiser, showing us that effective fundraising is all about being creative.   

And although many advancements have been made in the research that will lead one day  to the cure of Parkinson’s Disease, there is still much to be done.  Understanding the effects of the disease and being proactive as a patient is an excellent start.  Take a look and see pictures of the amazing“climbers” and learn more about the Summit4StemCell program.   

About the Doris A. Howell Foundation:
The Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women’s Health Research is committed to keeping the women we love healthy, advancing women’s health through research and educating women to be catalysts for improving family health in the community.

The organization does so by funding scholarships to scientists researching issues affecting women’s health; providing a forum for medical experts, scientists, doctors, researchers, and authors to convey the timely information on topics relevant to women’s health and the health. of their families through its Lecture and Evening Series, and by funding research initiatives that will create women’s health awareness and advocacy in the community. 

For more information about the Doris A. Howell Foundation, please visit www.howellfoundation.org.