FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON April 13, 2010

Duke Researcher Awarded $240,000 AAN Foundation Clinical Research Fellowship

TORONTO -

The and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation awarded the AAN Foundation/Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America Clinician-Scientist Development Award to Jeffrey Guptill, MD. Guptill, a neurologist at Duke University Medical Center in Raleigh, NC, was awarded the fellowship for his research titled “Analysis of Costs, Resource Utilization, Practice Patterns, and Outcomes in Myasthenia Gravis.” The three-year award will consist of an annual salary of $75,000, plus a $5,000 per year in educational expenses institutional award and recognizes the importance of clinical research and encourages young investigators in clinical studies. The fellowship will be formally presented during the ��ɫ����’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, 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. Myasthenia gravis is chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disorder that affects voluntary muscles. Common symptoms can include a drooping eyelid, blurred or double vision, slurred speech, difficulty chewing and swallowing, weakness in the arms and legs, chronic muscle fatigue and difficulty breathing. In the United States, roughly 20 of every 100,000 people are diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, and there is currently no known cure for the disorder. Myasthenia gravis occurs in all races, both genders, and at any age, and is not thought to be directly inherited. The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America is the only national volunteer health agency dedicated solely to the fight against myasthenia gravis. The organization has over 20 chapters around the United States serving patients and their families and caregivers through support groups and programs. Each chapter is independently operated, but each shares the vision of a world without myasthenia gravis. 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 .