2 Fox Focus | Driving toward a Cure
Message from the CEO :
If Not Us , Who ?
Scientists from across the globe witnessed an extraordinary sight at the International Conference of Alzheimer ’ s & Parkinson ’ s Diseases in Barcelona , Spain , last March .
Images of alpha-synuclein activity in the brains of living people appeared on screen for the first time , marking a game-changing step forward in the development of a sophisticated research tool that scientists have pursued avidly for more than a decade , which would allow us to see more clearly the role of alphasynuclein in Parkinson ’ s disease ( PD ).
If validated , this imaging tool — the one reported in Barcelona was developed by Swiss biotechnology company AC Immune — could revolutionize how Parkinson ’ s research is conducted and how long it takes for new therapies to be validated . ( Read more about the new imaging tracer and its significance to the field on p . 8 ).
The pursuit of this elusive imaging tracer was 13 years in the making . Over the last decade , The Michael J . Fox Foundation ( MJFF ) has spent tens of millions of dollars to pursue alpha-synuclein imaging — $ 5 million alone to AC Immune since 2015 . This monumental effort was led by our dedicated and tenacious Senior Vice President of
Above : A moment to celebrate : MJFF ’ s Jamie Eberling , PhD , receives the Foundation ’ s first If Not Us , Who Award from CEO Debi Brooks , for her dedication and leadership leading to the alpha-synuclein visualization discovery . For more on Jamie ’ s 13-year journey to this point , see p . 8 .
Research Resources , Jamie Eberling , PhD , who has worked on the project since she first joined MJFF in 2009 .
The hard work of Jamie and so many others — our numerous research partners , clinical trial volunteers , donors and more — has paid off in this extraordinary discovery . It ’ s the result of many years of persistent work , all in the pursuit of something that we weren ’ t certain we could find .
But it also reflects the organizing principle for so much of what we do : to tackle the challenges with the highest risk , yet the greatest rewards . Throughout our short