Our Work Isn’t Finished Yet
Communities across the country usher in the new year with fireworks and festivities, gathering for fizzy toasts to friends and family and new beginnings.
At the Reeve Foundation, we do the same – embracing ugly sweater contests and exuberant white elephant gift exchanges as we eagerly anticipate the year ahead. But this year, we also took time to savor the hard-earned victories that will carry us, and our community, forward.
After decades of incremental gains, the pace of discovery throughout the field of spinal cord injury research suddenly seems to tumble forth like dominos. Promising leaps in device development and epidural stimulation therapies are multiplying, while a groundbreaking digital bridge between the brain and spinal cord recently allowed a man living with paralysis to walk for the first time in more than a decade.
There’s so much to celebrate – but our work isn’t finished yet.
In 2024, the Reeve Foundation will serve as a hub for the field, tapping the expertise of our Scientific Advisory Board to cultivate collaborations that will allow on-the-cusp treatments to emerge and flourish. We will host the second annual Reeve Foundation Symposium this summer, connecting academics with industry peers and investors who can help turn lab triumphs into real-world results. And we will fund data driven research – including studies on bladder and upper limb function – with the potential to move from bench to bedside sooner rather than later.
Even as we work to bring transformative treatments to your door, we understand that the lives you live – working, building families, traveling the world one adventure at a time – exist in the here and now.
This year you’ll find the Reeve Foundation on the road sharing resources that help you pursue any path you chose. We’ll be visiting caregiver support groups for veterans in VA Hospitals, partnering with parks and conservancy organizations to increase access, and building critical new partnerships with diverse communities living with injuries. In March, we’ll gather in Washington D.C. for our annual summit, tackling topics that matter most to community members, including caregiving, employment, and emergency preparedness.
Best of all, we’re expanding access to our incredible Information Specialists. Urgent questions arise at all hours; call us, in both English and Spanish, from 7 a.m. to midnight when you need to talk.
Our resolutions for 2024 are clear: Sustain the momentum. Accelerate treatment breakthroughs. Increase innovative collaborations. Strengthen programs that support vibrant lives. Ensure your voices are heard.
We’ve toasted the progress sweeping in this new year – join us as we reach for celebrations still to come.
Maggie Goldberg
President and CEO, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
