History

In June of 2000, Art Mellor was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis after visiting his doctor with complaints of numbness, tingling, and bladder dysfunction. His primary care physician at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge put him in touch with a neurologist who, after some blood-work, an examination, and a couple of MRIs, made the diagnosis.

Given the magnitude of such a diagnosis, Art sought a second opinion. Through contacts with a friend who works at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, he was introduced to Dr. Timothy Vartanian. Dr. Vartanian was able to confirm the diagnosis and agreed to take Art on as a patient.

A serial entrepreneur by career, Art was used to solving problems he encountered in a proactive fashion. Searches on the Internet, reading books targeted to laypersons, then text books and research papers, and meetings with several MS researchers from both the academic and pharmaceutical worlds began to paint a picture that indicated a cure for MS was not forthcoming any time soon.

Art decided he would have to leave the start-up company he had founded 3 years prior and get personally involved. Not having a medical background, he decided doing research directly would not be the best use of his talents. Rather, he chose to leverage his engineering and entrepreneurial skills of fund raising, recruiting, project managment, and getting things started from scratch to build an organization that could work on the problem.

While meeting with Dr. Vartanian during an examination, Art complained about the apparent lack of solid information and direction in the MS research world. Dr. Vartanian agreed and expressed his similar desires to take a different approach. What followed was a series of meetings that resulted in the formation of the Boston Cure Project with Art Mellor and Dr. Vartanian as the founders.

In 2005 the Boston Cure Project began a more formal national expansion under the umbrella name Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, with the Boston Cure Project as the national headquarters and New England affiliate.

A more detailed history can be found in our Status Email archives.

Timeline

		Jun 2006			Seminar in Hatboro, PA
		May 2006			First Subject Enrolled in Repository Main Study at Johns Hopkins, Workshop on Infections in MS, Satita Sangnam joins as Admin, Phase 2 Toxic Agents Document Posted, Fifth Annual Hunt to Cure MS, Moved Offices to 5th Floor
		Apr 2006			Sing to Cure MS jr., Boston Marathon, Long Island Cocktail party, Medeiros Fundraiser, Attend AAN
		Mar 2006			Repository poster presented at 'Discovery Day', Attend FDA Advisory Council on Tysabri, Attend MS Registry Meeting at CDC
		Jan 2006			Water Cove Charitable Foundation makes $1M Matching Pledge
		Dec 2005			iBot Deomonstration in Hartford, CT, Cuts to Cure MS in Cambridge, MA, Navy Yard Bistro Holiday Benefit, name legally changed to Accelerated Cure Project
		Nov 2005			Attend FasterCures.org meeting in Palm Springs, Cuts to Cure MS in Norfolk, VA and Orleans, MA.
		Oct 2005			Attended ECTRIMS in Greece. Greater Cincinnati Cure Project kick-off, Carrie's Walk, NYC Hunt to Cure MS, Ithaca Seminar, Fourth Annual Accelerated Cure Party. First samples sent to researchers at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
		Sep 2005			Third Annual Tee-Off to Cure MS Golf tournament.
		Aug 2005			Attend FasterCures.org event in DC. Deutsche Bank US PGA Tour sponsorship. Begin recruiting sites for the main repository study.
		Jul 2005			New York Cure Project Kick-Off event.
		Jun 2005			Sara Loud joins as MS Repository Director.
		May 2005			MIT interns Stephanie Lee and Anne Yu join us for the summer to work on the Cure Map. Low County MS Cure Fund fundraiser. Fourth Annual Hunt to Cure MS.
		Apr 2005			Sarah Nels joins as Event Manager. Had booth at AAN in Miami and held special interest group meeting on sample banking. First Boston Marathon team ran, got coverage on NECN. Edmund J. Medeiros foundation fundraiser.
		Mar 2005			St. Clair River MS Fundraiser in Michigan. 2004 Annual Report out.
		Feb 2005			Posted Interview with Yash Agrawal on possible LDN mechanisms
		Jan 2005			MS research spending analysis completed. Launched acceleratedcure.org.
		Dec 2004			Announced 'Accelerated Cure Project for MS' umbrella name for national effort. Phase 1 Nutrition document posted.
		Nov 2004			Phase 1 Toxic Agents document posted. Fourth Annual Boston Cure Party featuring guest of honor Brad Whitford from the West Wing. Announce 2005 partnership with John Hancock Long Term Care. Volunteer book reviews began to get posted.
		Oct 2004			Enrollment in Repository proceeding at UMass and Beth Israel. Attended ECTRIMS in Vienna. Sing to Cure MS and Cuts to Cure MS events.
		Sep 2004			First sample taken for Repository. Signed Repository contract with Beth Israel. Labyrinth Walk event.
		Aug 2004			First expansion team launches - The Medeiros Family Fund.
		Jul 2004			Signed Repository contract with UMass. Chosen for inclusion in the Catalogue for Philanthropy. Held our Open House. Booklet for the newly diagnosed finished. 2nd Annual Golf Tournament.
		Jun 2004			Irene and Brian join as summer interns. Phase 1 Nutrition and Toxic Agents work begins in earnest. Quoted in the Washington Post. 3rd MS Social.
		May 2004			Moved into our own office space in Waltham. 3rd Annual Hunt to Cure MS Scavenger Hunt. Mentioned in Lucky Magazine.
		Apr 2004			Julie joins as Operations Manager. Expansion Team program launched with Blue Sky Collaborative. Provisional approval of Repository at UMass. Article on Boston Cure Project in MIT's Technology Review. Attended AAN in San Francisco.
		Mar 2004			Full approval of Repository at BIDMC. 2003 Annual Report out.
		Feb 2004			Improper Bostonian hosts even to benefit us. Meghan leaves.
		Jan 2004			Begin work on Phase 1 Nutrition. Begin work on Phase 2 Pathogens.
		Dec 2003			Repository protocoal provisionally approved by BIDMC. First draft of Phase 2 Genetics documents completed. Andii leaves, Meghan joins as new operations manager.
		Nov 2003			Completed 2 more Phase 2 Genetics documents, held our 3rd Annual Boston Cure Party for MS with guest speakers Dr. Gerald Fischbach and Dr. Michael Racke.
		0ct 2003			Submitted our first NIH grant proposal, began collaboration with Entelos to create a computer model of MS, held our first golf tournament, classical music benefit concert, and 2nd MS Social.
		Sep 2003			Held the Anna Peabody Fund Raffle with a $20K winner, held an MS Genetics Seminar, hosted a table at our first Pharma event at Foxwoods, and put up www.familieswithms.org
		Aug 2003			Hosted our first 'MS Social' event, 2 more genetics phase 2 documents posted, held drawing for our first raffle.
		Jul 2003			Held our 'Cuts for a Cure' benefit in Norfolk, VA.
		Jun 2003			A total of six Phase 2 Genetics documents are posted. Signed contract with Genomics Collaborative to do our sample banking for the pilot study, the Boston Globe writes a feature piece on it. Sense of Purpose running program launched. Web site redesign implemented.
		May 2003			Second annual 'Hunt for the Cure' scvenger hunt. First Public Service Announcement is being aired locally. Anna Peabody Fund Raffle is launched, our first.
		Apr 2003			Phase 2 MS Gene Studies spreadsheet posted. Attended AAN in Honolulu.
		Feb 2003			2003 Annual Report sent out.
		Jan 2003			Melissa joins as full-time Development Manager. Art and Boston Cure Project featured in Boston Globe article.
		Dec 2002			First two Phase 2 Genetics documents posted.
		Nov 2002			Healthcare Overview Class held. Second annual Boston Cure Party with guest speaker Jonathan Katz.
		Oct 2002			First annual 'Hunt for the Cure' scavenger hunt. Sue joins as part-time volunteer administrative help.
		Sep 2002			MS Primer document posted. Attended ACTRIMS/ECTRIMS in Baltimore.
		Aug 2002			Operations, Incentives, and Strategies within the American Healthcare Market with a Focus on Multiple Sclerosis document posted. Anna Peabody Fund launched.
		Jul 2002			Phase 1 Pathogens document posted. Repository overview posted.
		May 2002			MSNews website launched. Hollie joins full-time as VP of Scientific Operations.
		Apr 2002			Held our first house party fundraising event.
		Mar 2002			First edition of our quarterly newsletter published. 2001 Annual Report sent out. MS101 class given.
		Feb 2002			Phase 1 Genetics document posted.
		Jan 2002			Cure Map Overview completed and posted.
		Dec 2001			Moved out of office in Winchester garage to sublet from Gold Wire Technology in Waltham.
		Oct 2001			First annual Boston Cure Party held as kick-off event. David Lander and Liane Mark are guest speakers.
		Sep 2001			Work on Cure Map begins.
		Aug 2001			Art returns from honeymoon and begins work on Boston Cure Project full-time. Andii hired as Operations Manager.
		Jul 2001			IRS grants 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, fundraising can begin.
		Mar 2001			Boston Cure Project is incorporated as a nonprofit.
		Jan 2001			Art leaves his full time job to ponder how to best address the MS situation. Discussions with Tim eventually result in the creation of the Boston Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis.
		Dec 2000			Art and Tim begin regular meetings about how MS could be better addressed.
		Jun 2000			After a series of doctor's appointments, Art is diagnosed with MS and selects Dr. Tim Vartanian at the BI as his neurologist.
		Sep 1998			Art has first definitive signs of MS. He ignores them.