Award-winning Part the Cloud luncheon raises nearly $1 million in an afternoon

More than 200 attendees left the award-winning Part the Cloud luncheon inspired and thankful for all we have accomplished together in the past decade – over $67 million raised and $1.2 billion in follow-on funding. The event raised nearly $1 million in one afternoon, which is only possible because of the generous support of this community, the dedication of our co-chairs Sue Foley and Lauren Koenig, and the commitment of our committee members: Ellen Drew, Dana Eckert, Sue Foley, Stephanie Harman, Mikey Hoag, Lauren Koenig, Laurie Kraus Lacob, Anne Lawler, Lisa Mooring, Heather Pietsch, Debbie Robbins, Paula Robichaud, Mary Stevens and Hilary Valentine.

Part the Cloud Steering Committee

A panel of leading experts in the field of Alzheimer’s and dementia research included Alzheimer’s Association Chief Science Officer Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D.; Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Suzanne Craft, Ph.D.; FBRI President Stacie Weninger, Ph.D.; and Alzheimer’s Association Vice President of Medical and Scientific Relations Heather Snyder, Ph.D.. Award-winning journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC, Richard Lui, also spoke to the crowd to share about his personal connection to the disease and his upcoming documentary inspired by his experience, UNCONDITIONAL.

Dr. Maria Carrillo, Dr. Stacie Weninger, Dr. Suzanne Craft, Dr. Heather Snyder

Richard Lui

What started as a local, women-led fundraising event has grown into so much more — a global movement to transform progress in Alzheimer’s research and treatment. We are committed to continue propelling research with the highest probability of slowing, stopping or ultimately curing Alzheimer's disease forward.

Watch the video and hear from Part the Cloud researchers about why the funding is so critical to move the cause forward.

Mikey Hoag and Lauren Koenig meeting Dr. Paterson at AAIC in San Diego

Part the Cloud's quest to slow, stop and ultimately cure Alzheimer's disease spans the globe. Part the Cloud has raised $67 million and fueled 65 high risk, high reward projects in 9 countries, including the research of UK-based cognitive neurologist and biomarker researcher Dr. Ross Paterson. Read his Q&A on the Alzheimer’s Association's national blog to learn more about his Part the Cloud grant.

The latest Impact Report features the stories of Dr. Paterson and two additional Part the Cloud researchers, the impact Part the Cloud funding has on their work, and how they are expanding their studies to move the needle in Alzheimer’s and dementia research.

Krista L. Lanctôt, Ph.D., Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada, has received two Part the Cloud grants. She is an example of how the Part the Cloud peer-review process and input from world-renowned Alzheimer’s and dementia experts accelerated her work, and provided resources at the right time.

Dr. Lanctôt is a proponent for preventive and personalized care, including exercise. Her second study is looking at oxidative stress which seemingly may be higher in patients with mild vascular cognitive impairment. Funding from Part the Cloud is enabling her team to see if oxidative stress is actually in the brain, not just the blood, and which areas of the brain may be affected.

For Peter Ljubenkov, M.D., University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the initial support and funding through Part the Cloud was followed by millions of dollars in additional funding  from the National Institute on Aging. Working with Part the Cloud also allowed Dr. Ljubenkov and other researchers to pursue a multisite trial design.

In this instance, all the sites have specific and focused expertise on frontotemporal dementia, such as Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, Houston Methodist, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and Northwestern University, in addition to UCSF. These sites are affiliated with the NIH-funded ALLFTD multicenter cooperative study, and have collaborative experience collecting data in a standardized way, which is important to advance knowledge and research.

Read more in the latest Impact Report.