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We hope you enjoyed our terrific AUPN Fall Forums and Workshops, presented virtually for the very first time this past week, in concert with the very successful ANA annual meeting. A special thanks to the AUPN Program Committee and committee Chair, Dr. John Greenfield, as well as all our great speakers and everyone who attended these outstanding sessions.
I am most pleased to welcome Claire Henchcliffe, MD, PhD to the AUPN as the newly appointed Chair of Neurology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. Dr. Henchcliffe received her PhD in neuroscience at Oxford, followed by post-doctoral basic science work at both Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley. She obtained her MD from Columbia University, followed by residency and a fellowship in movement disorders also at Columbia, in the Neurological Institute of New York. Prior to becoming Chair at UCI, she served as Vice-Chair for Clinical Research in Neurology, as well as Chief of Neurodegenerative Disorders, and Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Dr. Henchcliffe has a major research interest in regenerative neurology, with a particular focus on therapeutic development, most especially cell-based and gene therapies for Parkinson’s Disease. She is a national leader in clinical and translational research and headed the NINDS NeuroNEXT clinical trial network team at Cornell. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Henchcliffe and welcoming her to the AUPN.
While NIH funding remains the mainstay for basic neuroscience studies of mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic interventions in the laboratory, the next steps in translating these discoveries to human therapies (e.g. pre-clinical pharmacokinetic studies, phase I human safety studies and phase I and IIa studies to assess for early signals of efficacy) are often very difficult to fund. However, such studies are critical to engaging the interest of big pharma to underwrite the larger and much more expensive phase III studies typically needed for FDA approval. Consequently, early phase studies are often referred to as the “valley of death” for drug development, during which many promising therapies perish before ever reaching human patients. Public-private partnerships are a very important and growing source of funding for these essential steps, and may include angel investors, venture capital firms and other models, often aligned with specific diseases through the efforts of patient advocacy organizations and academic institutions. The American Brain Coalition (ABC) is sponsoring an upcoming webinar exploring this important topic, entitled: “Demystifying the Public-Private Partnership Relationship”, linked below, featuring Dr. Donald Lo of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and Louise Vetter, President & CEO of the Huntington's Disease Society of America.
Clifton L. Gooch, MD
AUPN President
Today’s Resource Links
ABC Webinar: Demystifying the Public-Private Partnership Relationship (Free)
This American Brain Coalition (ABC) webinar features insights from Dr. Donald Lo of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and Louise Vetter, President & CEO of the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Together, Dr. Lo and Ms. Vetter will share their experiences with public-private partnerships and shed light on how these partnerships can advance research and cures for brain diseases and disorders. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gArTInAoR0qnjFhXPXxDRg
AUPN’s Leadership Minute: Trainee Recommendation Requests (Free)
A brief, highly focused summary of practical advice for Chairs, Program Directors, and other leaders in academic neurology, delivered as mini-podcasts or in short form videos. Today’s Leadership Minute covers how to deal with trainee recommendation requests, along with tips for what is best to include in the letter. Featuring Dr. Rohit Das, Medical Student Clerkship Director at UT Southwestern, and moderator Dr. Alissa Willis, Chair of Neurology at the University of Mississippi. https://vimeo.com/461113052
AUPN’s Leading Edge Podcast: So you want to be a Dean? Pros, Cons, Joys & Tribulations
Featuring Dr. Charles Lockwood, Dean of the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and Senior Vice President of USF Health, with moderator, Dr. Clifton Gooch. Prior to coming to USF, Dr. Lockwood was Dean at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, and also served twice as a Department Chair, at both NYU and Yale.
Apple & iTunes
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aupns-leading-edge/id1526866851
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/4V06AeCebOVxu5tHpb9BEs
Google
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdXBubGUubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M
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