Alzheimer’s Disease: Crossing Generations
Alzheimer’s affects every generation. Families are forced to watch loved ones—our parents or grandparents—once sharp and vibrant, slowly lose themselves. Having a parent or sibling with Alzheimer’s significantly increases our risk of developing Alzheimer’s. While baby boomers and succeeding generations expect to live longer, productive lives, there are no drugs today to prevent or slow the disease. We must act now. We have a voice and an obligation to combat this disease—if not in time to save our parents or grandparents, then to give hope to future generations.
Professionals: Who We Are
We are a growing community of professionals from diverse industries who strongly believe that together, we can do something NOW to defeat Alzheimer’s disease—one of the greatest global health challenges of our time. Because there are no drugs to stop or slow the course of this fatal disease, the development of medicines for Alzheimer’s is increasingly critical to global health and economic stability.
The goals of the Professionals are to
- Channel expressed Interest from the professional community into mutually beneficial and engaging educational and fundraising activities
- Serve as ambassadors, raising the ADDF’s profile and awareness of its mission among new constituencies
- Align with representatives from various industries who could potentially introduce new partnership opportunities to the ADDF.
- Raise much-needed funding for the ADDF in order to increase its grant-making capabilities.
2012 “Fund a Scientist” Challenge
In response to the Firefox Challenge on Crowdrise, the Professionals have launched the “Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery” team page to “Fund a Scientist.” Join our team to raise funds for the ADDF’s preclinical program.
If we raise at least $100,000, the ADDF will be able to fund Dr. Lawrence Wennogle’s project at the Manhattan-based biotechnology company, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. Intra-Cellular Therapies has discovered distinct small molecular weight compounds that have been shown to penetrate into the brain and lower beta-amyloid levels. Additional proceeds will benefit other promising preclinical programs like Dr. Wennogle’s.
But let’s aim for the big prize. The fundraiser that raises the most money on CrowdRise through January 10th will get a $50,000 donation. Second place gets $30,000 and third place gets $20,000.
Join the Professionals
The Professionals are engaged with the ADDF through a multitude of fundraising, networking, and social media initiatives. To join or learn more about the Professionals, please contact Allison Sawczyn at 212.901.8016 or asawczyn@alzdiscovery.org.