[bostoncure.org] status since 12/13/04

[Art Mellor]

Boston Cure Project informal status since last reported on 12/13/04:

Information on our other mailing lists is at the bottom of this message.

>>> Joining/Leaving Us This Month

o Nina Mann, a student at MIT, will be working with us as an intern
  through the month of January.  Her project is to get us started on
  the Trauma track phase 1 document.  Welcome, Nina!

>>> Cure Map/Tissue Bank

o Art and Hollie met with Mark Chalek and Stanley Mah from Beth
  Israel's Technology Ventures Office to discuss hospital business
  operations, particularly concerning clinical studies.

o Art and Hollie also talked with representatives of the Coriell
  Institute and Asterand about their possible interest in MS cell line
  banking.

o Hollie continued working on her analysis of MS pathogen-related
  research, in particular case-control studies looking for differences
  in exposure, infection, or immune response to various pathogens in
  MS subjects and controls.  She has created a spreadsheet summarizing
  the important features of these studies and is compiling an
  evaluation of how strongly the evidence points toward involvement in
  MS for each of the pathogens studied.

o Art met with Neuromorphometrics to discuss computer based MRI
  processing. 

>>> Fundraising

o Boston Cure Project is pleased to announce that as a result of
  generous support from our many contributors, friends, and
  volunteers, we raised almost $550K in 2004.

o Congratulations to the Yashko Family who last November established
  the Yashko Family Fund via our Expansion Team program and went on to
  raise over $27,000 (and counting!) through written letters to
  family, friends, and colleagues.  For more details about our
  Expansion Team program and how you can sign up to do the same, visit
  http://expansion.bostoncure.org or contact Melissa O'Shea
  (781/487-0011 or melissa at bostoncure.org).

o A reminder that we have a limited supply of Boston Marathon numbers
  available to individuals willing to raise $5,000 or more for the
  Boston Cure Project and who have run at least a half-marathon
  previously.  Please contact Melissa O'Shea for details (781/487-0011
  or melissa at bostoncure.org).

>>> Education

o Intern Stephanie Sisto completed her analysis of MS Spending. It is
  now available on our web site:
  http://www.bostoncure.org/downloads/bcp-ms-research-funding.zip

o More volunteer book reviews have come in. You can see them here:
  http://www.bostoncure.org/msresources/library.php#bookreviews

o MSNews (http://msnews.bostoncure.org) continues to run daily updates
  on MS related items. If you come across anything MS related and new
  on the web, please submit it to our site. 

>>> Community Building

o Boston Cure Project took part in a celebratory reception at John
  Hancock offices in Boston this past Tuesday at which the details of
  our partnership were officially announced to John Hancock staff
  members.  The reception caught the attention of the Boston Business
  Journal who followed up with the following story:
  http://tinyurl.com/4cgfq

o We had a number of meetings and phone calls:
  - Art presented Boston Cure Project at  Vicky Wu's nonprofit gathering
  - Attended first Tysabri infusion at the Beth Israel which was
    covered by the local CBS station and resulted in us getting
    mentioned and our t-shirt being on TV
  - Met with folks from MIT and Olin College to discuss possible
    collaborations. 

o Our quarterly print newsletter is going off to the printers shortly

o As usual, a few more T-shirt pictures are available:
  http://www.bostoncure.org/events/tshirt.php

>>> Events

o A volunteer planning meeting for the Fourth Annual "Hunt to Cure MS"
  Scavenger Hunt is scheduled for Wednesday evening, 1/19 and if you
  are interested in participating, please contact Lisa Sargeant
  (hunt-director at bostoncure.org) for more details.  Details about
  available volunteer opportunities can be found at:
  http://www.bostoncure.org/pipermail/bcp-volunteer/2005-January.txt

o If you are interested in putting a team together for the hunt,
  please make note that the event will take place on Saturday, May 21
  and visit the event website for further details about how to
  register:
  http://www.bostoncure.org/events/eventpages/20050521_hunt05.php.

>>> Operations

o We all took a well deserved break for the last week of the year -
  Happy New Year to everyone!

o Frank Sisto managed to get us a bunch of donated workstations from
  his company

o Dave Baker and Brian Del Vecchio have been helping out on a major
  computer upgrade effort we are planning.

o We are expanding under the name Accelerated Cure Project, and doing
  the preparations that go along with that.  Keep an eye out for ACP
  logos, the ACP website, and ACP letterhead. Check out our alter-ego
  web site:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org  

o We are closing out the books on 2004 and preparing to enter 2005.

o Preparations are now underway to set up an exhibit at the 2005 AAN
  Annual Conference

o We are preparing the 2004 Annual Report

o Dave Kaffine continues to improve the donor tracking database he has
  created for us.

o We continue to receive accounting lessons from volunteer Jill
  McGaffigan of Lifting Mind consulting.

>>> Volunteer Efforts that have been reported since last time

December Volunteers

* Accounting Advice
Jill McGaffigan

* Administrative Assistant
Sue Mellor

* Book Reviews
Crystal Diemert
Martha Garrett

* Donor Database
Joan Coyne
Dave Kaffine

* LDN Project
Rob Lester

* MSNews
Dave Baker
Brian Del Vecchio

* Neuroanatomy Paper
Jen Tobin

* Research Paper Access
Joel Baron

* Volunteer Introduction Document
Peter Schmidt

* Contributed Goods and Services
Clockwork Design Group, Inc.