[acp-status] status since last reported on 12/20/05

[Art Mellor]

Accelerated Cure Project informal status since last reported on 12/20/05:

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

>>> Joining/Leaving Us This Month

o Board member Jacqui McCoy is moving from our Board of Directors to
  our Board of Advisors to accommodate her busy work schedule more
  easily. 

>>> Cure Map/Repository

o We finalized the protocol for the main study and have received
  approval from a centralized review board -- this is like having a
  seal of approval.  We also finalized some other main study
  documents, including a site qualification document and site
  agreements.

o We are fully engaged with four sites for the main study and working
  to get all the approvals and paperwork completed there.  The four
  sites are UMass Memorial, University of Texas Southwestern, Johns
  Hopkins, and the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.

o Art, Hollie, and Sara held a conference call with Dr. Timothy
  Vollmer from Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona.  We found it
  quite worthwhile to share notes with him since they are doing many
  studies that are based on the use of MS samples and data.

Other scientific projects:

o Hollie is writing a grant proposal to the National MS Society to
  fund a project concerning recruiting controls to our repository.

o We continue to reach out to and learn from scientists interested in
  determining how MS develops, including Gavin Giovannoni from the UK
  and David Williams of Canada.

o Other projects, including the "Infections in MS" workshop, the Phase
  2 documents for toxic agents and nutrition, and the review of
  HLA-DR15 are all continuing to make progress.


>>> Fundraising

o Thanks to the support of many generous contributors, we exceeded our
  2005 fundraising goal of $775,000 and raised over $816,000
  (unaudited) toward our mission and programs.

>>> Education

o MSNews (http://msnews.acceleratedcure.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 Melissa, Sarah, and Hollie traveled to UMass Memorial Medical Center
  in Worcester, MA to participate (as controls) in a study by
  Dr. Peter Riskind to determine if specific infections affect the
  risk of getting MS.

o We had a number of meetings with various people:

  - Art and Melissa met with Gabe d'Anunzio to discuss ideas on how
    best to convey Accelerated Cure Project's mission to new and
    existing supporters.
  - Art met with Eve Nichols and Stacie Weninger of the Fidelity
    Foundation to familiarize them with our organization and explore
    grant opportunities.
  - Melissa and Sarah met with volunteer Sherry Reynolds, who has been
    tasked with recruiting corporate teams for our upcoming scavenger
    hunt.
  - Accelerated Cure Project staff recently caught up with former temporary 
    employee Niko White over lunch.
  - Art and Melissa met with direct mail expert, Bernie Mazel, to discuss how 
    we can improve our printed materials and appeal letters.
  - Art attended the CSBi symposium on systems biology at MIT
  - Art continues to participate in FasterCures.org initiatives to
    improve disease research in general
  - Art took a tour of a genetics lab at MIT given by Alyson Wilbanks
  - Art met with Adjoa and Regina from Partners for Youth with
    Disabilities to see how we might work together

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

>>> Events

o Enjoy a Taste of Tuscany at the Kelly Packowski MS Foundation's
  Fourth Annual Wine Tasting and Auction Saturday, January 28th 2006
  from 7:00 pm to midnight at the Boston Harbor Hotel Boston, MA:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20060128_kpmsf.php

o Thanks to Jonathan Martel of New York for raising money for
  Accelerated Cure Project by collecting sponsorships for his run in
  the 2005 P.F.  Chang's Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon in Arizona on
  January 15th.  Jonathan placed 7495 out of 33,000 runners.  Great
  job!

o Thank to Sandra Melanson of Chicago for hosting a "Park Lane"
  jewelry party and donating a percentage of the sales to Accelerated
  Cure Project.

>>> Operations

Operations January Status:

o We have ACP t-shirts available, including youth and toddler sizes.
  Send us your size and address and we'll send you one.  Then send us
  a picture of you wearing it.

o Work on the 2005 annual report is now under way.

o The Winter 2006 Newsletter went into the mail this month, so keep an
  eye out for your copy!  If you do not currently receive our print
  newsletter but would like to, sign up here:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/about/joinemail.php

o Dave Kaffine and Joan Coyne continue their work on the donor database.

o Dave Baker continues to work on our servers.

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

Donor Database Project
Dave Kaffine
 
State by state membership drive
Jackie Bollens
 
Neuroanatomy Paper
Jennifer Tobin
 
FitSense Fundraising
Jonathan Martel
 
Admin
Joyce Ananian
 
FitSense Fundraising
Lauren Smith
 
Personal Appeal
Pat Phelps
 
Letter Writing Campaign
Rosalind Joffe
 
Donor Database Project
Cindy Elia
 
Cuts to Cure MS 2005
Fillipo Paolini
 
Sing to Cure MS jr 2006
Rachel Cafarella
 
Admin
Rebecca Petersen
 
Admin and Fundraising
Rachel Cafarella
 
NYCP Admin and Fundraising
Phil Luongo
 
NYCP Admin and Fundraising
Jennifer Paretta 

Community Building
Cindy Elia

December Contributed Goods and Services

Google Grant Program
Mike Gonnerman
Echo Engineering Group Inc.
Clockwork Design Group, Inc.

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