Shortly after Birmingham real estate executive Henry Ray joined the Parkinson Association of Alabama (PAA) Board of Directors, he approached PAA leaders about creating a new campaign to raise funds for the UAB Department of Neurology. Those efforts came to fruition in December 2020 when the PAA pledged a $515,000 gift to help advance the department’s research into Parkinson’s disease.
“When Henry Ray joined our board, he approached me about the idea of augmenting our traditional fundraising efforts with a special fund to allow UAB Neurology to accelerate its efforts in treatment and a cure for Parkinson’s,” PAA Emeritus Director Rusty Stewart says. “Our initial goal of raising $500,000 for boosting research efforts was achieved by engaging friends who also wanted to help.”
The PAA is a longtime supporter of Parkinson’s disease research at the UAB School of Medicine. Since 1982, the organization has given more than $2.5 million in gifts and pledges to the Department of Neurology and the School of Medicine. Ray says he was motivated to further help the Department of Neurology after talking with some of the Parkinson’s researchers.
“It was a collaborative effort to form a list of friends we would ask to contribute $25,000 each for the purpose of additional research money, and hopefully encourage new national grant money for this research,” Ray says.
Of the $515,000 gift, $375,000 will be used to support the existing Research Acceleration Fund in Neurology for Parkinson’s Disease Research. UAB is one of eight Udall Centers of Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease Research by the National Institutes of Health. The gift will help fund the more than a dozen studies and trials of new Parkinson’s medications and treatments taking place at UAB.
UAB Department of Neurology Chair Dr. David Standaert with Dr. Mariangela Scarduzio and Dr. Karen Jaunarajs in his Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics research laboratory.
“The Research Acceleration Fund is by far the largest fundraising effort ever attempted by the PAA,” Board President Brian Corbett says. “We are proud to partner with and support the medical staff at UAB. We believe strongly that their research will much sooner rather than later find a means to halt or at least slow the progression of this debilitating disease.”
The remaining $140,000 will be used to support the PAA’s Pre-Doctoral Scholarship Fund, which supports the early investigations of the next generation of Parkinson’s research leaders. Since 2008, the Pre-Doctoral Scholarship Fund has supported the work of 10 pre-doctoral researchers at UAB studying Parkinson’s disease from a wide range of approaches.
“While we still don’t have a treatment that slows or alters the progression of Parkinson’s disease, this generous gift from the PAA will certainly help us toward achieving that goal,” says David Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., the John N. Whitaker Endowed Chair in Neurology. “We already are able to help patients with Parkinson’s function better in everyday life, and with additional research we hope we may one day be able to change the underlying nature of the disease.
“I would like to offer my personal thanks to the Parkinson Association of Alabama for its recent pledge supporting both the PAA Scholar, a program designed to aid a pre-doctoral trainee with Parkinson-specific research, and the Parkinson Research Acceleration Fund. Their generosity continues to provide critical funding for current and future researchers, offering hope to the patients who will benefit from their work. We are grateful for our relationship with PAA and look forward to many more years of positive impact together.”
To learn more about supporting Parkinson’s disease research and care at UAB, contact Katye Fuglaar at 205-934-0792 or kcf@uab.edu. – Cary Estes