[acp-status] status for the month of February 2007

[Art Mellor]

Accelerated Cure Project informal status for the month of February 2007:

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

>>> Joining/Leaving Us This Month

o Kristin Ardlie of the Broad Institute has joined our scientific
  advisory board. You can read her bio here:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/about/people.php?section=4&id=86

>>> Research

Repository:

o By the end of February, we had 323 subjects enrolled at five actively 
  enrolling sites

o We began designing the longitudinal aspect of the study and had a call 
  with Dr. Annette Langer-Gould to discuss the case report form

o We met with GeneLogic about a possible collaboration

o We received approval from our central IRB for inclusion of children in 
  the repository - this is important for the other demyelinating
  disease like TM because it affects many children

o We received a new proposal for use of the repository samples and will 
  be discussing this with our oversight committee on Friday

o Art and Hollie met with people from the computer science department at 
  MIT to discuss how the data in our repository database could be mined 
  for patterns and associations

Other scientific projects:

o Our first-ever published scientific article can now be read/downloaded 
  from the American Journal of Epidemiology web site:
  http://tinyurl.com/2mdv4g

o We are co-sponsoring a conference at Harvard on
  Statistical and Epidemiologic Issues in Multiple Sclerosis
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070427_harvard.php

o Hollie is working on the Phase 1 and 2 trauma documents

o Art and Hollie met advisor David Simon and also with statistician
  Meredith Regan 

o Hollie, Art, and Sara took a tour of a local blood banking facility
  to see if they might have something additional to offer for future
  needs. 

o Art and Hollie attended a NMSS "Hap Map" talk at MIT's Broad
  Institute to learn about their genetic investigation of MS. We took
  the opportunity to meet with Kristin Ardlie while we were there.

>>> Fundraising

o Less than $140K left to meet Water Cove Charitable Foundation's 
  $1 million matching challenge and you can help.

  Make a gift of $1,000 or more and the foundation will match it one
  to one.  Pledge that same gift for 3 years and they'll double match
  it.  If you can't pledge $1,000, gifts of any size always help.  For
  more details contact Melissa O'Shea 781/487-0011 or
  melissa at acceleratedcure.org.

>>> Education

o The new MSNews site is cranking along quite well. If you want to
  keep up on what's happening in MSNews, you need to sign up to
  receive daily emails:
  http://msnews.acceleratedcure.org

>>> Community Building

o We had a number of meetings with various people:

  Melissa, Art, and Sarah had a conference call with Teva Neuroscience
  to discuss collaborating on an educational program for neurologists
  in California

  Melissa had a call with Rick Szczepanski of the Mary J. Szczepanski
  Never Give Up Scholarship Foundation to discuss offering
  scholarships to high school students who raise money for Accelerated
  Cure Project.

  Melissa and Art had a call with Novartis to discuss grant
  opportunities.

  Art met with the staff at Cure Alzheimer's Fund to talk about
  nonprofit management and fundraising in the disease research space. 

  Art talked to the executive director for "Scope It Out" a colon
  cancer nonprofit to share some lessons learned in running events.

o We launched another MIT Sloan School "Tiger Team" project to investigate 
  how corporations choose the nonprofits they support.

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

>>> Events

Detailed information about all of our upcoming events can be found on our 
web site:
http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/calendar.php

o April 16: Boston Marathon, Hopkinton to Boston, MA. Join Accelerated
  Cure Project in support of our runners in the prestigious 111th
  Boston Marathon in Boston, MA. Sponsor a runner or come to the
  marathon to help us cheer them on!
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070416_marathon.php

o April 21: Medeiros Family Fifth Annual Sports Scholarship and MS
  Fundraiser Party at the Dante Club in Somerville, MA. Join us for an
  evening of dining and dancing.
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070421_medeiros.php

o May 19: Sixth Annual Hunt to Cure MS Scavenger Hunt starting and
  ending in Waltham, MS. Registration is open so get your team of
  3-5 people together!
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070519_hunt.php

o Thanks to Director Mike Yashko who hosted a charity dinner at the
  Blue Coyote in Fort Myers, FL on February 22 in sponsorship of Kim
  Davis and Lori Moore's Boston Marathon run on April 16th.

o Congratulations to Ernie Parizeau and the Sledgehammer Rowing Team
  for raising over $22,000 for Accelerated Cure Project through their
  participation in the Crash-B Sprints World Championship of Indoor
  Rowing on February 25.

o Special thanks to Deb Dufault for organizing the Dance to Cure MS
  benefit on March 2nd. Over 100 people attended the event at The
  Chateau in Andover, MA. Great job Deb!

>>> Operations

o The 2006 Annual Report is now complete and available online at
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/downloads/index.php.

  Printed versions will be mailed later this month to those who gave
  us $250 or more in 2006.  If you would like a copy, please give us
  your name and address and we will mail it out to you.

o Art and Julie attended a Nonprofit Financial Literacy class 


>>> Volunteer Efforts Reported Last Month

o Admin
  Audrey Bedrock
  Catherine Doucette
  Kelly Novak
  Stephanie Munafo
  Jackie Bollens
  
o Benefit to Cure MS 2007
  Holly Perreault

o Boston Marathon 2007
  Angela Beyer
  Brendan Handfield
  Chris Woodard
  Dave Roskelley
  Elizabeth Lyon
  Jennifer Catour
  Jon Woodard
  Jonathan Hiller
  Kim Davis
  Lori Moore
  Peter Schmidt
  Stephen Harrison
  Thomas Crusse
  Thomas Wert
 
o Dance to Cure MS 2007
  Deb Dufault
  Emily Orciani
 
o Letter Writing Campaign
  Andrea Feldman

o Personal Appeal
  Pat Phelps
 
o PR
  Randi Cohen
 
o Repository MRI Project
  Sue Ropiak
 
o Scavenger Hunt 2007
  Deb Robison
  Debbie Mellor
  Debbie Zuppa
  Karen MacInnes
  Lisa Sargeant
  Michael Keatley
  Nancy Costello
  Rebecca Petersen
  Stephanie Sisto
 
o Sloan Tiger Team 2007
  Jyeh Gan
  Karen Gregory
 
o System Administration
  Scott Tamosunas

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