RE Children's Project's Founder Joins CURE Board

DARIEN, Conn., Sept. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The RE Children's Project announced that Seth Wohlberg, its founder and president has joined the Board of Trustees of Citizens United for Research in the Epilepsies (CURE).   CURE is the leading non-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to advancing basic research into the spectrum of epilepsies.  Susan Axelrod, founder and Chair of the Board of CURE commented, "We are delighted to welcome Seth onto our Board.  His experience and leadership skills have changed the research landscape for rasmussen's encephalitis during the past two years and his passion to accelerate research into epilepsy is a great fit for our organization."  Wohlberg added, "CURE has been a leader in advocating research into the epilepsies and I am eager to join forces with them as we continue our search for a better understanding of all the epilepsy syndromes."

CURE was founded by Axelrod and other parents in 1998 after experiencing years of frustration and despair with the lack of effective treatments for her daughters' epilepsy.  Since its founding, CURE has focused on identifying the underlying mechanisms of the epilepsies to lead toward therapies which can change the course of the disease, rather than just ameliorate symptoms. Toward that end, since its inception in 1998, CURE has raised more than $20 million to fund research and other initiatives that will lead the way to a cure for epilepsy. CURE funds seed grants to young and established investigators to explore new areas and collect the data necessary to apply for further funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). To date, CURE has awarded 134 cutting-edge projects in ten different countries. 

The RE Children's Project is a non-profit whose sole focus is promoting research into a devastating and rare epilepsy called rasmussen's syndrome. The RE Children's Project was founded in 2010 after Wohlberg's daughter was diagnosed with rasmussen's, a particularly devastating epilepsy that does not respond to medical treatment and causes paralysis of half of the body.  The only treatment is a radical brain surgery that removes half the brain.  Since its founding, The RE Children's Project has funded research and sponsored research symposiums; more recently it has focused its efforts on the collection of RE tissue to advance genetic and viral analyses to gain a better understanding of RE.

Epilepsy affects over 3 million Americans of all ages – more than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Parkinson's disease combined and 50,000,000 worldwide.  Almost 500 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every day in the United States. In two-thirds of patients diagnosed with epilepsy, the cause is unknown, and in over one-third, seizures are uncontrollable. There are approximately 50,000 deaths a year attributed to epilepsy.  One in 26 people in the U.S. will develop epilepsy in their lifetimes, and the numbers are rising due a number of factors that include the aging of the U.S. population, the traumatic brain injury experienced by soldiers returning from the Middle East, and the link between autism and epilepsy.  

Contact: Jenifer Howard
203-273-4246
[email protected]

SOURCE RE Children's Project