Public awareness of the impact of neurological disorders (AD, MS, ALS, epilepsy, Parkinsons & many more) - the greatest cause of long-term disability and a primary cause of death in the US and abroad - has improved, but there is still too little public support for the research necessary to improve treatment and cures for these conditions. At Hope Happens, we provide resources and create an efficient research infrastructure that accelerates the translation of basic research to clinical cures.
Neurological disorders are one of the biggest public health challenges of our time. Looking at dementias alone, someone in the world develops a form of dementia every 3 seconds! The increase of people with neurological diseases is a looming crisis. The incidence rates of these debilitating illnesses are increasing in numbers because people are living longer. There are no treatments for most of these diseases that delay their onset.
We use funds specifically to launch new research ideas that are high risk/high gain. Because federal research funds are often limited to projects that already have a vast amount of clinical data available and are relatively well known, we focus on supporting innovative projects and initiatives that help to launch new approaches. A new funding mechanism was created at the Hope Center for fast-tracking innovative research: the Just-In-Time Award. $5,000 will buy one cutting-edge experiment!
In addition to the human suffering they cause, neurological disorders are creating an enormous strain on the health care system, families, and the economy. New treatments and cures would save not only millions of lives, but billions of dollars in health care costs.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
