[Accelerated Cure Project Status] Monthly Status for April

[Art Mellor]

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

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

>>> Joining/Leaving Us This Month

o Temp Alexis Lahey has joined us for a month or so to assist in
  contribution processing and events.

o Meghan O'Sullivan & Gabe d'Annunzio have been retained to help us
  get the word out through public relations efforts. You can read
  about their operation here:
  http://www.ocmarketing.com/

>>> Research

Repository:

o We now have 424 subjects participating at five actively enrolling sites
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/repository/status.php

o Two of our sites have been approved to enroll children in the 
  repository -- MS Research Center of NY (NYC, NY) and UMass MS Center 
  (Worcester, MA)

o We recently distributed samples and data from 39 subjects enrolled in 
  the pilot study to researchers at Stanford. You can read about the
  approved research studies here:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/repository/research.php

o We are gathering a number of psychological stress/trauma 
  questionnaires for potential inclusion in our longitudinal questionnaire 
  (thank you to David Mohr for his help)

Other scientific projects:

o Hollie, Art and Sara kicked off work on Phase 3 of the Cure 
  Map (a set of strategies for answering the unanswered questions)

o Art and Hollie attended the American Academy of Neurology annual 
  meeting; Hollie attended the Conference on Statistical and Epidemiologic 
  Issues in Multiple Sclerosis held at Harvard; and Art and Hollie both 
  visited the Bio 2007 exhibit hall.

  AAN write up:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org:8080/node/2642

  Harvard Meeting video:
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org:8080/node/2640

>>> Fundraising

o Less than $137K 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 Have you had chicken pox? Never had it? Let us know on our poll:
  (even if you don't have MS we want to hear from you)
  http://msnews.acceleratedcure.org/node/2631

o We've gotten a few press mentions:

  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/news/bcp.php  

o We continue our daily MS News updates

  http://msnews.acceleratedcure.org

>>> Community Building

o We had a number of meetings with various people:
  - Art and Melissa attended a dinner hosted by Teva Neuroscience.
  - Art and Melissa met with Kim Birong and her colleagues at corporate 
    partner Sun Life Financial in Wellesley, MA.
  - Art and Melissa traveled to Novartis headquarters in New Jersey to 
    introduce Accelerated Cure Project to their staff at their MS
    Awareness Day. 
  - Art and Hollie met with Scientific Advisor Vince Macaluso while he
    was visiting Boston
  - Art met with Rusty Bromley and David Coleman of the Myelin Repair
    Foundation effort
  - Art and Hollie met with Scientific Advisor Fred Vinick

o We helped participate in the launch of a new web site to do medical
  searches in neurology. Try it out, just type in a question in
  English: 
  http://www.curbside.md/

o Art attended a conference on Transverse Myelitis held at the
  University of New Mexico and sponsored by the Cody Unser First Step
  Foundation
  http://www.codysfirststep.org/

o Art was interviewed for the BioBankCentral.org web site on issues
  around tissue ownership in repositories
  http://www.biobankcentral.org/resource/forum/Details.aspx?QuestionExpertID=1&ForumID=1

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 May 19: Accelerated Cure Project Scavenger Hunt participants will be
  hunting all over Greater Boston during Accelerated Cure Project's
  Sixth Annual Hunt to Cure MS Scavenger Hunt.
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070519_hunt.php

o July 25: Enjoy dinner, drinks and live music at Orleans Restaurant in 
  Somerville, MA at the Second Annual Benefit to Cure MS. 
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070725_orleans.php

o September 9: Join the Greater Cincinnati Cure Project for the Second 
  Annual Canine Happy Hour featuring a cash bar, concession stand, live 
  music, 3.5-acres off-leash area for dogs, silent auction, goody bags 
  and a raffle/giveaways for 
  all.  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070908_canine.php

o November 17: Save the date for the Seventh Annual Accelerated Cure 
  Party at the MIT Faculty Club in Cambridge, MA. 
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20071117_acp_party.php

Previous Events

o Congratulations to the 16 runners of Accelerated Cure Project's 2007 
  Boston Marathon team.  These dedicated individuals raised over 
  $100,000 for our organization. For pictures and results, click here: 
  http://www.acceleratedcure.org/events/eventpages/20070416_marathon.php

o On April 21st, the Medeiros Family hosted their Fifth Annual Sports 
  Scholarship and MS Fundraiser Party at the Dante Club in Somerville, 
  MA. Over 75 people attended the dinner to raise more than $1500 for 
  each charity.

>>> Operations

o Our auditors have completed their in house work and we should have
  our final results by June

>>> Volunteer Efforts Reported Last Month

o Admin 
  Lori Stephenson 
  Kelly Novak 
  Omari Steans 

o Benefit to Cure MS 2007 
  Holly Perreault 

o Boston Marathon 2007 
  Angela Beyer 
  Brendan Handfield 
  Carol Rose 
  Chris Woodard 
  Dave Roskelley 
  Debbie Mellor
  Jennifer Catour 
  Jon Woodard 
  Jonathan Hiller 
  Kim Davis 
  Lori Moore 
  Michele Van Leer 
  Peter Scavongelli 
  Peter Schmidt 
  Stephen Harrison 
  Thomas Crusse 
  Thomas Wert 
  Helen Schmidt 
  Katie Schmidt 
  Kendall Woodard 
  Emily Woodard 
  Jed Elmaleh 

o Community Building 
  Jane Shapiro 

o Donor Database Project 
  Dave Kaffine 

o Greater Cincinnati Cure Project Canine Happy Hour 2007 
  Cindy Fink 
  Amy Grof 
  Kemp Jaycox 
  Debbie Mann 
  Mary Owensby 
  Peggy Shannon 
  Jodi Supinski 
  Christina Urbanowicz 

o Kick MS for Karen 2007 
  Kemp Jaycox 

o Medeiros Family Fundraiser 2007 
  Nancy Medieros 

o Personal Appeal 
  Pat Phelps 

o Repository MRI Project 
  Sue Ropiak 

o Sato/Alam Event 2007 
  Vicki Sato 
  John Alam 

o Scavenger Hunt 2007 
  Debi Robison 
  Debbie Mellor 
  Debbie Zuppa 
  Lisa Sargeant 
  Michael Keatley 
  Peter Schmidt 
  Stephanie Sisto 

o Sloan Tiger Team 2007 
  Jyeh Gan 
  Karin Gregory 
  Sabrina Chang 

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