About Progeria Research Foundation
With the exception of our staff, everyone involved with PRF is a volunteer! Our Board of Directors, Clerk, Treasurer, committee members, translators, fund-raisers, etc. all devote their time, energy and talents to furthering our mission without pay.
The MISSION of The Progeria Research Foundation:
To discover treatments and the cure for Progeria and its aging related disorders.
MAY 2011
Progeria is a rare and fatal genetic disease characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children. Without the discovery of new treatments, all children with Progeria will die of heart disease at an average age of 13 years. The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF) was founded in 1999 in response to the complete lack of progress being made to help children with Progeria. Our mission: to discover the cause, treatments and cure for Progeria.* Today, PRF continues to be the only organization in the world solely dedicated to this mission. We have filled a void, taking these children out of the background where they had been for over 100 years and putting them and Progeria at the forefront of scientific efforts.
In just 11 ½ years, we have achieved extraordinary progress towards our mission: the Progeria gene discovery in 2003, first-ever clinical drug trials initiated in 2007, extensive global awareness of the disease and PRF's work, and discovery of critical biological links between Progeria, heart disease and aging we all experience.
All of this progress is due in large part to the creation of PRF's research-related programs and services. Developed with insightful determination, they provide the resources needed not only to advance the field of Progeria, but also to discover what Progeria can tell us about heart disease and aging.
With the support of dedicated staff and volunteers, a talented board of directors, courageous families, and thousands of generous people around the world, we are pushing the field of Progeria forward towards discovery, treatments, and cure. And along the way, we are learning a tremendous amount about ourselves.
Please enjoy the pages of this web site, which details PRF's programs, progress and partners. Most recently, the tremendous success of our global campaign to identify all children with Progeria, and reaching the half-way point in the Triple Drug Trial contributed to an exciting 2010. Both of these initiatives will continue to be strong in 2011, along with the many other activities which have edged us ever-closer to our ultimate goal of a cure.
Your love and support for children with Progeria makes these exciting strides possible.
Onward and Upward!
Audrey Gordon
President, Executive Director
agordon@progeriaresearch.org
*In 2004, in response to the Progeria gene discovery and the growing scientific evidence linking Progeria to the heart disease and aging that affects us all, the mission was revised: To discover treatments and the cure for Progeria and its aging related disorders.
Audrey and her nephew Sam celebrate Night of Wonder 2009