About the MPD Foundation

The MPD Foundation was established in 1999. The founding board members are all myeloproliferative disorders patients who were stunned to discover not only how little medical research was happening in the MPDs, but that there were no advocacy groups working to promote and fund scientific inquiry in these disorders.  

The MPD Foundation’s primary mission is to stimulate original MPD research in pursuit of new treatments and eventually a cure for polycythemia vera, primary myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia. In addition, the MPD Foundation promotes collaboration in the scientific community to accelerate MPD research, and serves as a powerful patient advocacy group for MPD patients and their families.

Funding Research

The MPD Foundation supports innovative efforts to advance scientific understanding of the causes and potential treatments for the MPDs - polycythemia vera, primary myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia.  To date, the Foundation has raised over five million dollars for MPD research.  The Foundation’s esteemed Scientific Advisory Board utilizes a rigorous selection process to ensure donations are allocated to the most innovative research projects.  The scientific advisory board includes highly regarded physicians from Scripps, University of Indiana, University of Utah, BC Cancer Research Center and Weill Cornell. 

As a small patient-driven organization, approximately 90% of the funds raised are channeled directly into supporting myeloproliferative disorder research.   Though based in Chicago, Illinois, the scope of medical research support is international.

Progress through Collaboration

The MPD Foundation is committed to collaboration in order to accelerate progress in pursuit of new MPD treatments. In 2005, the MPD Foundation awarded an organizational grant to a worldwide consortium of leading MPD researchers that resulted in a $20M grant from the National Cancer Institute. In 2006, the MPD Foundation awarded a five-year research grant to Harvard, Mayo and Mount Sinai to form the MPD Research Alliance, a collaborative effort to accelerate drug discovery.  In addition to collaboration among researchers, the MPD Foundation promotes collaboration between the drug industry and academic research.

Patient Advocacy

The MPD Foundation provides education and support to individual MPD patients and over 20 MPD patient support groups worldwide.   The MPD Foundation produces several newsletters a year informing patients on key advances in MPD research, sponsors patient conferences, distributes MPD patient brochures and interfaces with government organizations on key patient issues.