The Transverse Myelitis Association Awards Grant to the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center / Project RESTORE

The TMA is pleased to announce the award of a $35,000 grant to The Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center and Project RESTORE to support a new Research and Administrative Coordinator Position.  The funding of this position reflects the TMA’s commitment to support research on all of the rare neuroimmunologic disorders and to support the provision of the best clinical care to people with these disorders.

This position will provide research and administrative support to the Center’s Executive Director.  Through the addition of this position, the Center will expand its fundraising activities and its awareness and outreach programs.  The Program Coordinator will increase the Center’s ability to write grants to expand research and clinical trials, to organize educational symposia, and to facilitate the coordination of medical care. 

The Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center was established in October 1999 as a multidisciplinary center dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) and to better understanding of the pathophysiology and natural course of the disease.  The goals of the center are 1) to provide expert care and treatment for patients in the acute and convalescent phase of rare neuroimmunologic disorders – TM, ADEM and NMO; 2) to extend the spectrum of care through collaborative management of the disease condition by health care providers from multiple disciplines; 3) to develop standard diagnostic criteria and work-up for patients based on  clinical research to understand the natural course of the disease; 4) to perform clinical and basic science research in order to comprehend the pathophysiology of ATM; 5) to devise novel therapeutic interventions for patients in the acute and convalescent stages of ATM; 6) to coordinate international symposia as platforms for both physicians and patients to interact and share theories and advances in research and management of ATM; and 7) to publish and disseminate the knowledge gained through clinical practice, research and international symposia to community physicians to target recognition of the disease in the community.

The Johns Hopkins Project RESTORE was launched in August 2004; a multidisciplinary research and clinical collaboration of The Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis and Multiple Sclerosis Centers.  The goal of this initiative is to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the treatment of neuroimmunologic disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and transverse myelitis (TM).   New research studies and clinical trials are made possible through this collaboration.  

The Transverse Myelitis Association remains committed to developing a medical center network with a focus on the neuroimmunologic disorders.  It is imperative that people have local access to the best clinical care from physicians who have a good understanding of and experience with these disorders.  It is critical that the research efforts into these disorders are also expanded and accelerated.  This will only happen through increased funding and through the encouragement of collaboration in this work.  The TMA’s partnership with the Accelerated Cure Project is a significant step in meeting these important goals. 

The TMA is interested in balancing our goals of developing this network with our support for the great work that is being done at the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center and Project RESTORE.  We are thrilled to be able to support this new position at the Center and we are grateful to our generous members for making this support possible.