$200,000 Raised for Access to Health Care Fund
Published September 14th, 2008
The Eastern North Carolina Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society held its annual Dinner of Champions on September 4 at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. More than 250 guests gathered to celebrate the mission of the National MS Society and contributions made by individuals and organizations in North Carolina’s health and life sciences communities.
Chris Viehbacher, president of North American pharmaceuticals for GlaxoSmithKline, chaired the event that featured a keynote address by former four-term North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt. More than $200,000 was raised for the Society’s Access to Health Care Fund that will fill gaps in care for people living with multiple sclerosis in eastern North Carolina.
“The community’s commitment to the MS cause was evident by its support for the Dinner of Champions,” says Staci Barfield, director of development for the Eastern North Carolina Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “We were thrilled to celebrate the health and life sciences communities with all of our guests.”
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center presented its inaugural Health and Life Sciences Achievement Awards at the dinner, honoring North Carolina companies and individuals that have contributed significantly to the health and life sciences.
Awards and winners were:
• The Mind to Market Award was presented to Targacept, a Winston-Salem-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in a new class of drugs for the treatment of multiple diseases and disorders of the central nervous system.
• The Breakthrough Research Award was presented to Dr. Michael Ehlers, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Neurobiology at the Duke University Medial Center. Dr. Ehlers received the award in recognition of his work focused at the interface of cell biology and neural circuit plasticity.
• The Promise for Tomorrow Award recognized student researcher Shivani Sud for developing a model to identify early stage colon cancer patients with a high risk for recurrence. Sud is a graduate of Durham’s Jordan High School and is a freshman at Princeton University.
• The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Jim Hunt, former four-term North Carolina governor, for his sustained efforts in enhancing the health and life sciences communities in North Carolina.
For more information, visit www.nationalMSsociety.org/nct.
