On Saturday evening, June 7, 2014, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Francis Collins, PhD, addressed a record crowd of over 600 attendees of the 2014 NF Forum and NF Conference. Speaking to NF patients and families, NF experts, researchers, clinicians, biotech and pharma executives, Dr. Collins shared his pleasure at how far the NF movement – both in research and awareness – has come. Dr. Collins, as one of the co-discoverers of the NF gene, is particularly aware of the challenges of NF research, but as the head of the NIH, which he also called the ‘National Institutes of Hope’ – he provided additional hope to the NF community. He shared that if one were to ask him, as the head of the NIH, what the most interesting areas in science are today, he would say ‘neuroscience’ and ‘cancer’. And that when you put these two fields together – neuroscience and cancer research – the nexus is NF research. That is, NF research has applications for the broader public, and as such, there is hope that work done across multiple fields will result in answers not just for NF but for other diseases as well. (Note: attendees at the NF Conference include not just NF-specific researchers, but also experts in genetics, neurology, oncology, pediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics and many others).
The Children’s Tumor Foundation expresses its deep gratitude to Dr. Collins for his ongoing support of the NF movement, both as a researcher and as an advocate for increased funding of all scientific research.
At the 2014 NF Forum / Conference, from left to right:
Dr. Bruce Korf, Chair, CTF Medical Advisory Committee
Dr. Annette Bakker, CTF President and CSO
Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health
Stuart Match Suna, CTF Board Chair
