By: Susan Ruediger, CEO, CMT Research Foundation

As we approach the end of 2020 and look ahead to a new year, it’s natural to feel hopeful about what the future may hold — hope for an end to the global pandemic; hope for happiness and good health for our families; and hope for an end to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT).

The CMT Research Foundation shares these hopes. After all, it’s the hope we see in research that motivates everything we do. However, we know delivering treatments and cures for CMT quickly requires more than hope. It requires vision, commitment, a strong plan, and most importantly — action.

As we prepare for the year ahead, we’re pleased to share a preview of the CMT Research Foundation’s plan. Here are several of the key ways we’ll turn our community’s generous support into action during 2021:

• Increasing research investments for the third consecutive year: 2020 was a challenging year for everyone. Many nonprofit organizations struggled, cutting people and programs to survive. Thanks to our generous supporters, the CMT Research Foundation not only weathered the storm, we increased our financial investments in research. With your continued partnership, we’ll do it again in 2021.
• Adding new research projects: We plan to expand the number of CMT research projects we’re funding to support more new ideas, more innovative approaches and more promising researchers — all to accelerate progress toward delivering treatments and cures for CMT during our lifetime.
• Convening a pathway to clinical trials: One of our research partners has progressed their gene therapy to the point that they are ready to seriously explore clinical trials. We’ll bring together experts in the field to advise on moving this work forward.
• Attracting more researchers to focus on CMT: Sometimes the best ideas come from the least expected places. At the CMT Research Foundation, we’re proud of our track record of identifying new academic and industry researchers with promising science and bringing them into the CMT field. In 2021, we will continue to uncover new talent and expand the CMT research community.

Give More Than Hope

Together, we will not just hope for treatments and cures for CMT, we will do everything possible to put an end to this terrible disease. Your donation to the CMT Research Foundation will give more than hope by supporting research that’s exclusively focused on delivering treatments and cures. Thank you for helping end CMT during our lifetime and for every future generation.