Neuroscience Researcher with a Passion for Muscular Dystrophy Therapies Honored at Imagine More Dinner
Annual Event Raised More Than $250,000 to Support Neurological Disease Research
Dr. Michael Lawlor, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), and his lab at MCW have been involved in a worldwide collaboration to develop hope for those suffering from neurological disorders. Over the last five years, the team has helped develop and translate a gene therapy for myotubular myopathy that has shown great clinical potential. Photo courtesy of Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Milwaukee, June 26, 2018 – After muscular dystrophy took the life of his childhood friend more than 20 years ago, Dr. Michael Lawlor swore never to give up on finding new ways to treat these types of devastating disease.
Today, Lawlor, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at MCW, is involved in a worldwide collaboration studying the use of gene therapies to treat neurological disorders. A dedicated researcher and clinician, Dr. Lawlor was honored at the annual Imagine More Dinner in Milwaukee on Thursday, June 14.
Dr. Lawlor informed the hundreds of guests in attendance about the effects of myotubular myopathy, and the strain it puts on families. Patients with this severe rare disease often suffer profound muscle weakness, respiratory failure and early death, and there are currently no approved treatment options.
Over the past five years, however, Dr. Lawlor’s team has helped develop and translate a gene therapy showing great clinical potential. The results from the research were so promising that the therapy was approved for clinical trials on human patients beginning in September 2017.
Dr. Lawlor’s discovery has sparked a renewed sense of hope for families who previously had none.
Hosted each year by the Neuroscience Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Imagine More Dinner supports research for the cause and cure of devastating neurological diseases. This year’s event raised a record amount of more than $250,000.
About Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin
The Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin regional health network is a partnership between Froedtert Health and the Medical College of Wisconsin supporting a shared mission of patient care, innovation, medical research and education. Our health network operates eastern Wisconsin’s only academic medical center and adult Level I Trauma Center at Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, an internationally recognized training and research center engaged in thousands of clinical trials and studies. The Froedtert & MCW health network, which includes five hospitals, one of which is a nationally ranked academic medical center, more than 1,600 physicians and nearly 40 health centers and clinics, draws patients from throughout the Midwest and the nation. In our most recent fiscal year, outpatient visits exceeded 1.1 million, inpatient admissions to our hospitals were 49,250 and visits to our network physicians totaled 932,000. For more information, visit froedtert.com.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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