On May 27th, Lia Gaertner, a member of our science committee, and her husband, Sunjya Schweig, MD, discussed tick-borne disease prevention and Lyme disease treatments on KTVU Fox News in San Francisco. Many thanks to Lia and Sunjya for their valuable help with our awareness and education programs.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
American Ninja Warrior Elet Hall Educates about Lyme Disease Risks
Growing issue of Lyme disease in California prompts Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (AEOE) to provide Lyme education at statewide conference
Silicon Valley, CA, May 9, 2016 — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading non-profit funder and advocate of innovative Lyme disease research in the US, today announced that Elet Hall, ambassador for the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, and Jo Ellis, director, education outreach, Bay Area Lyme Foundation helped raise awareness about Lyme disease and tick-borne illnesses among California Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (AEOE) conference attendees. Attendees included individuals who work in museums, zoos, nature centers, and state and national parks as well as environmental and outdoor educators who help instill an understanding of nature to individuals of all ages, from California and neighboring states.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Philanthropists and Scientists Collaborate to Increase the Pace of Lyme Disease Research, Raising $815,000 at LymeAid 2016
Weekend kicks off with high-level scientific discussions, and concludes with a fun-filled performance by the legendary Diana Ross
Palo Alto, CA (May 3, 2016) – This weekend, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading nonprofit funder and advocate of innovative Lyme disease research in the US, hosted a 2-day event aimed at helping make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure. Scientists and clinicians, who met to strategize concepts and collaborations on Saturday, were joined by more than 300 philanthropists, celebrities, patients and others in the medical field for the fourth annual LymeAid on Sunday. The benefit dinner and concert raised more than $815,000, of which 100% will go directly to fund research for Lyme disease. More than 329,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with this potentially debilitating disease.
Diana Ross headlined LymeAid, energizing the enthusiastic crowd with “I Will Survive” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, whose names offered unique relevance for the audience and brought attendees to their feet for an hour of nonstop dancing. Earlier in the evening two other voices also entertained guests with original songs addressing the need to overcome this devastating disease. Kiva, 11, movingly performed his original song “10 Years and 17 Doctors” about his mother’s struggle with Lyme disease. Additionally, Sony/ATV singer/songwriter Dana Parish, who dealt with great difficulty being diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease, performed “Pull You Through”.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Experts Hack for Lyme Disease Solutions in Boston and Berkeley
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Supports the First Hackathon for Lyme Disease to Inspire Innovation
Silicon Valley, CA, April 18, 2016— To inspire innovation to help solve the challenges of Lyme disease, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, collaborating with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network’s Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness, Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, MIT Hacking Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation, is supporting Lyme Innovation, the first ever Hackathon for Lyme disease, a potentially devastating condition newly infecting 329,000 people each year. Scientists, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors from both U.S. coasts participated in this innovative event, which kicked off this weekend, and will continue in Cambridge June 17 – 19, at the Microsoft Nerd Center.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
California Strains of Lyme Bacteria May Survive Antibiotic Treatment, According to New Study
This new study funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation identifies 20 FDA-approved compounds that are more effective in inhibiting persistent Lyme bacteria than standard treatment
Silicon Valley, CA, April 6, 2016—A laboratory study published today, funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, is the first study to demonstrate that strains of Lyme bacteria present in California ticks are able to form persister bacteria, which do not respond well to treatment. The study is also the first to identify FDA-approved therapies that may be more effective in inhibiting these specific strains of persister bacteria in the lab than doxycycline, the most commonly prescribed treatment for Lyme disease. The study was conducted by Stanford School of Medicine researchers and published in the Open Access publication Drug Design, Development and Therapy. View full study here: http://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=26319
Dr. Ben Beard, PhD, Chief Bacterial Diseases Branch at the CDC, visited with Bay Area Lyme and invited guests as part of the foundation’s ongoing speaker series. This donor-sponsored forum brings together researchers and other experts in an intimate forum for topical discussions with community members. Past events have included Emerging Leader Award winners, clinicians, and patient advocates.
The next event, on Wednesday, March 2, will feature Dr. Christine Green, Director of Education for ILADS, and Allie Cashel, author of Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial.
For more information, see Speaker Series.
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As Chief of the CDC’s Bacterial Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in Fort Collins, Colorado, Dr. Beard coordinates CDC’s programs on Lyme disease, plague, and tularemia. His scientific interests include public health and the biology, ecology, and genetics of insect-borne diseases and vectors. More recently, he has been extensively involved in the CDC’s work to understand and mitigate the potential impact of climate variability and change on infectious disease ecology. He shared the CDC’s concerns about the expanding disease burden and distribution of Lyme and affirmed the importance of attracting new research interest and efforts focused on Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Offers Free Tick Testing Nationwide
Free Tick Testing Initiative Is First In The Nation and Aims to Map Tick-borne Diseases Across the U.S. Through Crowd-sourcing
Silicon Valley, CA, February 16, 2016 — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading nonprofit funder of innovative Lyme disease research in the US, today announced that the Foundation is the first to offer free tick testing for residents of the U.S. Testing is available through a partnership with Nate Nieto, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University and his lab. Bay Area Lyme Foundation hopes to use this crowd-sourced data as a vehicle for gaining a greater understanding of the geography of tick-borne diseases in the U.S. If successful in accumulating data, it will be the first crowd-sourced study of its kind.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Foundation Supports More Researchers Nationwide and Expands Advisory Board to Include Cancer Researcher and Lyme Survivor Neil Spector, MD
Silicon Valley, CA — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading nonprofit funder of innovative Lyme disease research in the US, today released its roster of 2015 research grant recipients. Collectively these researchers received $1.5 million from the Foundation for research related to Lyme disease, a growing epidemic with more than 329,000 reported new cases each year according to the CDC. The organization also highlights the exponential increase in donations to the Foundation in 2015, including more than $6 million that will go directly to support research over the next few years, and announced the addition of Duke University cancer researcher/physician and Lyme survivor Neil Spector, MD to its Scientific Advisory Board.
“With so many unanswered scientific questions related to Lyme, it is exciting to be a part of the growing focus on Lyme disease research and increased scientific creativity in approaches to identifying new diagnostics and treatments,” states Linda Giampa, Executive Director.
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation Grants $6.5 Million to
Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Gift is part of the largest private donation for Lyme disease research—100% of grant will go directly to Lyme disease research programs.
SILICON VALLEY, California, December 17, 2015 –The Bay Area Lyme Foundation today announced that it received a $6.5 million grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, the largest private donation ever given to Lyme disease research. The gift will support Bay Area Lyme’s mission of using new scientific research and innovations to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure.
“I was shocked to learn how many people suffer from Lyme disease in silence, and how much we still need to do to raise awareness and help find a cure,” said Alex Cohen, President of the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. “This gift is incredibly personal to me as I have experienced, first-hand, the chronic and debilitating side effects of this relatively unknown disease. We share Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s desire to find a cure for Lyme disease and hope that this gift will help pave the way to that important work.”
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Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Bay Area Lyme Foundation To Provide Tick and Lyme Disease Education in the Solano Resource Conservation District
Program is open to the public and part of extensive education program throughout the Bay Area
Silicon Valley, California, October 26, 2015—The Bay Area Lyme Foundation, which aims to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, will provide training about ticks and Lyme disease to naturalists, outdoor educators, program managers and the general public in the Solano Resource Conservation District, as well as other local agencies, to better educate area students, parents and classroom teachers. The program is part of an educational initiative started at Bay Area Lyme Foundation to inform California residents about prevention, the proper removal of ticks, and symptoms of tick-borne diseases. It is based on new information that Lyme disease is endemic to the area.