[bostoncure.org] Status 7/17/02 - 8/12/02

[Art Mellor]

Boston Cure Project informal status since last reported on 7/16/02:

>>> Joining Us This Month

o Elliot Frohman and Michael Racke from the University of Texas
  Southwestern have both joined our Scientific Advisory Board. You can
  read their bio's here:
  http://www.bostoncure.org/default.php?nav=bcp&topic=people&bio=ElliotFrohman
  http://www.bostoncure.org/default.php?nav=bcp&topic=people&bio=MichaelRacke

o Our Summer Intern from Harvard Business School finished up her time
  with us and we'll be posting her work on the web site early next
  week. She spent the summer analyzing the health care industry and
  documenting how all the various players in it operate and interact.

>>> Cure Map

Documents referenced below are available in the Documents section
under News:
http://www.bostoncure.org/default.php?nav=news&topic=documents

The long awaited Phase 1 document covering Pathogens has been posted
to our web site. 

We are about to embark on an exciting new effort that will facilitate
the research necessary to implement the Cure Map. We are pulling
together plans for a large-scale, multidiscipline tissue and data
bank. We have posted a short overview of this effort to the site. 

We have identified a possible company to implement the actual
collection and storage of samples and data and are in preliminary
discussions to determine the price and time-line.

Hollie and Art attended the Drug Discovery Technology convention in
Boston to start to get our feet wet (and minds wet) learning about the
various technologies available to do the research we see necessary.

>>> Education

The MSNews site is continuing to draw new readers. We really need to
get people making comments - don't be afraid, you can even comment
anonymously. Check it out at http://msnews.bostoncure.org

Hollie is moving the "newly diagnosed" brochure project along as we
conduct invterviews with people to find out what content they would
like to see in it.

>>> Community Building

Hollie and Art travelled up to South Portland Maine to see our new SAB
member Dr. Elliot Frohman speak along with our old pal David Lander.

We've continued to meet with our SAB members on a regular basis, this
month having a good discussion with John Alam about some of our
upcoming efforts.

Art met with Tom Simons of Partners and Simons regarding the role that
an advertising firm might play at this stage of the game. The
conculsion was - not a whole lot, but we're going to stay in touch. 

We've met with the marketing and Internet folks at Biogen and they
have been very generous in their offers to help us get more traction
with MSNews.

Thanks to Alex d'Arbeloff we were able to get a meeting with Sam
Thier, the CEO of Partners Healthcare. We presented our ideas for
going forward to him and he was very positive about the direction we
outlined.

>>> Events

SAVE THE DATE: We'll be having our yearly Gala Event this year on
Saturday November 23rd at the MIT Faculty Club in Cambridge. It will
start at 7pm. We'll be sending out an official announcement in the
coming weeks.

The Scavenger Hunt run by Kim Labow and Debbie Mellor (and staffed by
many volunteers) is shaping up nicely. Don't forget, in order to even
think about being in it, you need to pre-register at:
http://www.bostoncure.org/hunt

>>> Fundraising

We continue to get all of our support from individuals, although we
have begun soliciting some grants. I've had several people comment
that they haven't contributed only because the amount they could give
would not be significant. Let me assure you that all amounts are
significant. Every dollar you provide is a dollar we don't have to
raise. At our size we can see a significant impact at any
level. Please, don't feel we only need large contributions!
http://www.bostoncure.org/default.php?nav=involved

The Anna Peabody Fund, a family fund to benefit the Boston Cure
Project, has been formed and should be launching this month. You'll be
hearing more about that as we go forward. We would like to thank the
folks at http://www.als-tdf.org, especially Deb Gold, Alia Reiker,
Maureen Oakes, and Jamie Heywood, for all the help they've given us in
setting this up.

>>> Volunteer Efforts Not Mentioned Elsewhere 

o Web Update project is still on temporary hold
o Michael MacKenzie has helped with some graphics work for a
  Powerpoint presentation we are developing
o Numerous volunteers are involved in the Scavenger Hunt effort, they
  will all be thanked separately at the Hunt itself.

-- 
...............................................................................
    Art Mellor     : HTTP> http://www.bostoncure.org : Boston Cure Project
art at bostoncure.org :       * Donate Online *         : for Multiple Sclerosis
Cell> 617/899-2360 : Main> 781/788-0880              : Fax> 781/788-8118

  Never let your persistence and passion turn into stubbornness and
		  ignorance.  -- Anthony J. D'Angelo