The Michael J. Fox Foundation

Last updated
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
AbbreviationMJFF
FoundedOctober 31, 2000;23 years ago (2000-10-31) [1]
Founder Michael J. Fox
13-4141945 [2]
Legal status 501(c)(3) Non-profit
PurposeFunding research for better treatments and a cure for Parkinson's disease [2]
Headquarters New York City, U.S. [2]
Fields Parkinson's disease clinical research
Skip Irving [3]
Deborah W. Brooks [4]
AffiliationsMJFF Canada [2]
Website www.michaeljfox.org

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is a US non-profit organization founded in 2000 by Canadian-American actor Michael J. Fox to find a cure for Parkinson's disease.

Contents

Business model

The organization funds grants directly to scientists it assesses as having the best chance of finding a cure. [4] It maintains closer control over and supervision of projects than is typical from other medical-research foundations. [4] [5]

Fundraising

In 2006 it was the "largest private funder of research" into Parkinson's, according to The Guardian . [6] As of 2023, it had raised $2 billion for Parkinson's research projects. [7] [4] According to Town and Country, in 2022 the organization funded more Parkinson's research than the US government. [4] According to Fox Business , it is the largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research in the world. [8]

Work

In 2023, a longitudinal study funded by the organization, the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative, released results in Lancet Neurology showing Parkinson's can be detected by the presence of a biomarker protein, abnormal alpha-synuclein. [4] [9] [10] [11] The biomarker can be detected before the onset of symptoms. [12]

The organization hosts the Fox Trial Finder, a website for presenting clinical trials in Parkinson's disease research. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael J. Fox</span> Canadian and American actor and activist (born 1961)

Michael Andrew Fox, known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American activist and retired actor. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989) and Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). Fox went on to star in films such as Teen Wolf (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), Doc Hollywood (1991), and The Frighteners (1996). He returned to television on the ABC sitcom Spin City in the lead role of Mike Flaherty (1996–2000).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shake it Up Australia Foundation</span> Australian non-for-profit foundation

The Shake It Up Australia Foundation (SIUAF) is an Australian non-for-profit foundation founded in 2011 by Clyde and Greg Campbell. It is partnered with the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to achieve the foundations primary aims of "promoting and funding Parkinson's disease research in Australia to slow, stop and cure the disease". Together MJFF and SIUAF are the largest non-government funders of Parkinson's research across multiple institutes in Australia. Since its founding, the foundation has co-founded 38 Parkinson's research projects across 12 institutes to the value of over $10.8 million. The foundation's funding model ensures that 100% of proceeds goes towards Parkinson's research in Australia. This is possible due to the founding directors covering all overhead costs and expenses. In January 2019, Shake It Up are one of the partner organisation in the Australian Parkinson's Mission which was awarded a $30 million-dollar grant to test repurposed drugs in clinical trials.

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Lezanne Ooi is an Australian neuroscientist who is Professor and Head of Neurodevelopment at the University of Wollongong. Her research considers the development of cellular imaging techniques to understand neurodegenerative disease.

References

  1. "The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research Archived 2016-09-20 at the Wayback Machine ". Division of Corporations. Delaware Department of State. Accessed on May 18, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Guidestar. December 31, 2014.
  3. "Skip Irving | Parkinson's Disease". www.michaeljfox.org. Archived from the original on 2022-12-26. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Goldman, Andrew (2023-11-02). "Michael J. Fox Didn't Get Mad, He Got Motivated". Town & Country Magazine . Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  5. Piller, Charles (2016-08-30). "As Parkinson's patients wait, Fox Foundation and scientist feud over drug trial". Stat . Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  6. Pilkington, Ed (October 20, 2006). "Radio host apologises for claim Michael J Fox faked symptoms". The Guardian .
  7. Burleson, Nate; Breen, Kerry (November 9, 2023). "Michael J. Fox talks funding breakthrough research for Parkinson's disease". CBS News. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  8. Genovese, Daniella (2019-09-30). "Billionaire Ken Griffin, Michael J. Fox Foundation stage $10M competition for 'game-changing' Parkinson's research". Fox Business . Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  9. Hodgson, J. L. (2023-04-17). "Michael J. Fox's foundation finds groundbreaking discovery about Parkinson's". Diario AS . Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  10. Schnell, Mychael (2021-12-02). "Michael J. Fox Foundation studying early signs of Parkinson's disease". The Hill . Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  11. Paynter, Ben (9 May 2018). "Michael J. Fox's Foundation Is Using This Alphabet Smartwatch To Research Parkinson's". Fast Company .
  12. Michaud, Mark. "What You Need to Know about the New Parkinson's Biomarker". University of Rochester Medical Center . Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  13. Weiner, Michael W.; Nosheny, Rachel; Camacho, Monica; Truran-Sacrey, Diana; Mackin, R. Scott; Flenniken, Derek; Ulbricht, Aaron; Insel, Philip; Finley, Shannon; Fockler, Juliet; Veitch, Dallas (August 2018). "The Brain Health Registry: An internet-based platform for recruitment, assessment, and longitudinal monitoring of participants for neuroscience studies". Alzheimer's & Dementia . 14 (8): 1063–1076. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2018.02.021. ISSN   1552-5260. PMC   6126911 . PMID   29754989.