The Michael J. Fox Foundation Annual Report 2016 – Frameworks for Progress | Page 5

An Update from the CEO
and the Co-Founder
Todd Sherer, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Deborah W. Brooks
Co-Founder and Executive
Vice Chairman
The question most frequently asked of
The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) is: “How
close are we to a cure for Parkinson’s disease?”
With nearly $750 million in Parkinson’s disease (PD)
research funded to date, the simplest answer is:
closer than ever.
Today’s PD drug development pipeline
demonstrates a richness and vibrancy we could
only dream of a few short years ago.
But nothing is simple, least of all
brain research, and every promising
step forward reveals complex new
challenges for our problem-solving.
As you’ll read in this report, our
community increasingly is called on
not just to provide funding for the
most important research projects
in the Parkinson’s space, but also to
engage with MJFF as we lead and
coordinate wide-ranging initiatives
that help advance the entire field —
frameworks, as it were, for progress.
In the Foundation’s short history,
Parkinson’s drug development has
experienced a metamorphosis,
and it is fair to say that the state of
Parkinson’s science as a whole has
meaningfully advanced. Multiple
scientific breakthroughs, promising
new leads and powerful information
technology have combined to set the
stage for better disease understanding
from the patients themselves.
Our on-staff PhD-trained
neuroscientists paired with business-
trained project managers are
identifying, vetting and advancing
the most promising ideas in
Parkinson’s research, building a
portfolio that includes investigations
of over 1,000 drug targets to date.
2016 Annual Report
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