March 9, 2007

MIND award honors those striving for a cure

On March 2, the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND) honored a dedicated contributor to the fight to cure Alzheimer's disease, awarding the first annual Philanthropic Innovation and Investment Award to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund. MIND established the award to recognize donors and organizations who have made substantial commitments to visionary work that cannot be funded through other sources but has the potential to radically change scientific thinking and drug discovery for neurodegenerative disease.

The Cure Alzheimer's Fund — created two years ago by four families affected by the disease — has donated more than $2 million to the MGH's Alzheimer's research labs and has committed to raising another $4 million. Most notably, the organization is funding the Alzheimer's Genome Project, being carried out by MIND's Genetics and Aging Research Unit, which aims to identify the full set of Alzheimer's-associated genes by 2008.

"This award exemplifies how grateful we are to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund for its extraordinary commitment to the field," says Anne Young, MD, chief of MGH Neurology. "This organization has been instrumental in pushing forward the research to reach a cure." Rudy Tanzi, PhD, project leader for the genome project and director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit, adds, "This group has been an incredible resource for the research community. Their dedication is most admirable and we are thankful to have them as collaborators."

For more information about MIND, visit www.mghmind.org.

From left, Tanzi; Young; Jeff Morby, Cure Alzheimer's co-founder; Henry McCance, Cure Alzheimer's co-founder; and Tim Armour, chief executive officer of Cure Alzheimer's