The Michael J. Fox Foundation Annual Report 2016 – Frameworks for Progress | Page 7

advocating for public policy or —
like those honored in this report
— providing significant financial
support for our work, the Parkinson’s
community is more committed than
ever before to getting involved. That’s
why we’ve restructured our staff to
add a Community Engagement team,
our newest framework dedicated
to helping patients and their loved
ones navigate the broad range of
multi-faceted opportunities to play a
personal role in our mission.
Initiative (PPMI), our landmark study
launched in 2010 to jump-start the
search for Parkinson’s biomarkers
— disease indicators that are critical
missing links in the search for next-
generation PD treatments. And the
study has expanded beyond the
original cohort to look at genetics to
track the disease process at the earliest
stages of illness.
Any truly patient-centric program
starts fr om the proposition that
patients are the true experts on
living with disease. Today, thousands
of patients and their loved ones
have enrolled in Fox Insight
(foxinsight.org), our online clinical
study, helping researchers gain a
holistic understanding of PD and
revolutionizing Parkinson’s research
by contributing PROs (patient-
reported outcomes) on disease course,
symptom progression and treatment
outcomes, among other vital data. And because Parkinson’s public
policy concerns have evolved
with the landscape of Parkinson’s
therapeutic development, in 2016,
the Foundation announced its
integration of the former Parkinson’s
Action Network and launch of a
robust policy program. Our work
in three priority areas — federal
research funding, drug regulation
and approval, and health care delivery
and reimbursement — is bringing the
passion and commitment of the PD
community to bear on articulating
and advancing public policy that
stands to affect millions of patients
and families.
These participants are part of a
growing community of citizen
scientists. More than 65,000 have
registered with our smart-matching
tool Fox Trial Finder (foxtrialfinder.
org), which in 2016 expanded to
include atypical parkinsonisms
multiple system atrophy, Lewy body
dementia and others. More than 1,000
have enrolled in the MJFF-sponsored
Parkinson’s Progression Markers Drug development is a high-
risk business, and sometimes a
discouraging one. At The Michael J.
Fox Foundation, we believe we are
building the framework to tilt the
odds in favor of success — identifying
and accelerating the research with
potential to transform every life
touched by Parkinson’s. We can’t do
it without you. Thank you for sharing
our vision.
With gratitude,
Todd Sherer, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Deborah W. Brooks
Co-Founder and Executive
Vice Chairman
2016 Annual Report
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