The past four months have rapidly flown by and I had hoped to correspond with you more often and in greater detail since assuming my new role. I am enjoying this position and I must confess it has its challenges, but each day, with the assistance of the Foundation’s talented staff, we make progress and work toward fulfilling our mission. Our mission statement is posted online and was crafted with the input of board and staff. We feel that we have clearly stated the objectives of the organization and are anxious to hear what your thoughts about the direction of the Foundation. I have scheduled a town hall meeting for next week as I have not had an opportunity to thank many of our supporters and to hear their viewpoints on the mission of the Foundation and how it is meeting their current needs.
Right now my focus is on the peer-reviewed grants program. I meet with the Board of Directors (BOD) on Thursday night for a decision on the number of grants to fund. As you may recall, the Foundation administers a robust peer-reviewed research grants program which is one of the major focuses of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Please view the bios of this talented group of scientists who review the grants in great detail in a process based upon the system used by our National Institute of Health. Why such a laborious process? Simple – without a strong scientific review, and oversight following funding, your research dollars would have little value. We ensure that each dollar donated to our research program is treated with respect and good faith that it will be used as intended, with oversight and transparency. The SAB recommends the grants that are worthy of funding and the BOD has the fiscal responsibility to allocate budgeted funds for this purpose. I want to personally thank Dr. Lee Krug, Chair of our SAB for leading the process and keeping us informed of progress of the grant review. His strong leadership and scientific knowledge guided this rigorous process.
It is with great excitement that I await Thursday’s meeting and we will share this news with the community quickly and with great enthusiasm.
TOWN HALL MEETING
WHAT: Town hall meeting (conducted via conference call)
WHEN: 8:00 p.m. EST Wed. Jan. 23rd
WHO: Everyone is invited
WHY: To discuss Foundation updates and its programs and to allow for question/answer with executive director
WHERE/HOW: Conference call in number: (605) 475-4000
Participant Access Code: 216145
