FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON April 13, 2010

AAN Foundation Awards $240,000 Brain Research Award to Mayo Clinic Researcher

TORONTO -

The and the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers awarded the AAN Foundation/Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers John F. Kurtzke, MD, FAAN, Clinician-Scientist Development Three-Year Award to Gabriele De Luca, MD, PhD. De Luca, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, MN, was awarded the fellowship for his research titled “Genetic-Pathologic Correlations in Multiple Sclerosis.” The three-year award will consist of an annual salary of $75,000 plus $5,000 in educational expenses per year to support a clinician scientist's research related to multiple sclerosis. The fellowship will be formally presented during the ��ɫ����’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. Clinical research is the fundamental transition stage between discovery and treatment. Clinical research provides the scientific basis for all forms of care, addresses patient and caregiver needs, and is the backbone for drug development and cost-effectiveness studies needed to improve lives. Fellowships provide recipients with up to three years of “protected time” with salary which allows them to continue important research projects in their chosen interests. The fellowship is supported by the AAN, the AAN Foundation, the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, and donations from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, EMD Serono, Inc. and Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers is a multi-disciplinary organization providing a team approach to MS care and a network for all health care professionals and others specializing in the care of persons with ms. The consortium provides leadership in clinical research and education; develops vehicles to share information and knowledge among members; disseminates information to the health care community and to persons affected by multiple sclerosis; and develops and implements mechanisms to influence health care delivery. The 62nd Annual Meeting of the AAN takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The ��ɫ����, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, migraine, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and multiple sclerosis. For more information about the ��ɫ����, visit .