Thanks to your support, CJD Foundation started the year by awarding six research grants and two fellowships. These grants are funded through donations to the CJD Foundation, Strides for CJD, and Family Memorial Grants. We look forward to future updates on the 2024 recipients' investigations of therapeutics, disease models, and diagnostics. And we are poised to award another round of grants in January 2025.
Our Advocacy committee spearheaded significant activity, starting with a successful Advocacy Day in March where family members held dozens of meetings on Capitol Hill. Our Congressional requests -- including continuing support of Prion Disease surveillance funding, broadening access to "Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementia (ADRD)" funding for Prion Disease scientists, and recognizing CJD Awareness Day -- were also conveyed through calls and letters, written testimony to Congress, and meetings with legislative teams throughout the year. We are seeing progress in these areas, some more quickly than others.
For some time, our community has focused its advocacy on sharing with legislators and health agencies the perspective that including Prion Disease research in the funding channel of "Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias" would not only advance the Prion Disease field, but also ensure all neurodegenerative diseases benefit from discoveries and collaborations related to Prion Disease, as they have done in the past. One step forward is a scientific conference hosted by the CJD Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland in November this year, focused on Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration and how collaboration across the CJD and ADRD fields can be mutually beneficial.
The exciting launch of a first in human clinical trial this year generated contacts from many families seeking information about the clinical trial through our Helpline, website, and conference. As always, families facing a new CJD diagnosis or grieving a loss were met with compassion, information, and referrals from our Helpline and support teams.
In July, the CJD Foundation Family Conference welcomed new families and long-time attendees for a weekend of interaction with scientists, clinicians, and families; informative talks; interactive roundtables; peer support groups; advocacy training; and more. Thanks to your gifts, the CJD Foundation was also able to schedule medical education sessions at a number of hospitals around the country.
This has been a year of promising progress and deep engagement by our Prion Disease / CJD community -- please keep the momentum going!
You can help us continue this important work in 2025 by donating to the CJD Foundation Annual Fund. Your gifts will enable us to continue funding family support, advocacy, medical education, and research grants. On behalf of the families we serve and the scientists whose work we have funded, we thank you wholeheartedly for your continued generosity.