Sunday, March 29, 2020

The Johnnie Walkers Are Rallying for the Virtual MS Walk on May 17th



I’m guessing it’s no surprise to any of you that I have to cancel the walk part of this year’s MS Walk scheduled for May 17TH. It’s my favorite weekend of the year but we’re living through some social distancing unprecedented times.

However, our dedication to discovering the cause and cure for MS is not on hold and we continue to help fuel the momentum of the  collaborative work of Northwestern’s  Drs. Steve Miller & Brian Popko.
 So, please donate to this year’s “Walk”. Your support means just as much as it always has.  There are three options to donate:
  • ·        Contribute online HERE. We are funding The Miller Multiple Sclerosis Auto-Immune Disease Research Protocol.
  • ·        You can send a check to me at the address listed to the right. Please make the check out to The Northwestern Feinberg School Of Medicine.
  • ·        If you use your brokerage firm or a donor advised fund, please note that your gift is for the Bob Gregory MS Walk and should be mailed directly to:
    MaryPat Mauro, Director, Major Gifts, Northwestern University
    Development & Alumni Relations, 420 East Superior Street, Rubloff 9th Fl.,
    Chicago, IL 60611

Are our donations making a difference? In the past year:
Dr. Popko relocated from University of Chicago to Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University which will make their collaboration much easier now that both are at the same institution.
  • ·        Cour Pharmaceuticals used Drs. Miller & Popko’s approach to complete a highly effective phase 2 clinical trial in Celiac Disease (another autoimmune disease) and are currently planning clinical trials in MS patients using the same.
  • ·        Thanks to the data derived by research made possible through our fundraising, they also received two NIH grants examining therapies using tolerance in combination with myelin repair agents.
  • ·        They co-authored a paper on an offshoot of a specific drug, guanabenz, that was identified by The Myelin Repair Foundation that we funded in years past.
  • ·        Dr. Miller published a paper in collaboration with Clene Pharmaceuticals describing the use of gold nanocrystals to induce remyelination
  • ·        Dr. Miller and Popko are currently preparing a manuscript describing the myelin repair inducing properties of digoxin, a repurposed drug which already has FDA approval for use in heart patients

       We are making a difference!