The Lymphatic Research Foundation

ACCOMPLISHMENTS SINCE 1998

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead, US Anthropologist

LRF helps to establish first-ever Endowed Chair of Lymphatic Research and Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.
LRF successfully advocates Congress for recognition of lymphatic research and diseases as higher national medical research priority; concurrently stimulates National Institutes of Health (NIH) to allocate resources for lymphatic research and lymphatic diseases and to modify the grant application process to better meet the needs of the scientific community. LRF is instrumental in establishment of a permanent Trans-NIH Coordinating Committee on the Lymphatic System and an NIH "Working Group" to help the NIH in developing a national agenda for lymphatic research initiatives.
LRF organizes two National Institutes of Health (NIH) international "think tanks" on lymphatics (Conquering Lymphatic Disease: Setting the Research Agenda (2000) and The Lymphatic Continuum (2002)), laying the groundwork for and subsequently playing a leading role in establishing the preeminent biennial Gordon Research Conference Series (GRC): Molecular Mechanisms in Lymphatic Function and Disease (convened in 2004, 2006, and 2008). LRF provides travel scholarships to enable promising young researchers from around the world to attend GRC conferences and recognizes the top two young investigators with the Andrew Moisoff Young Investigator Poster Awards.
With the generous support of leading biotechnology publisher, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., LRF launches the international peer-reviewed journal, Lymphatic Research and Biology, now indexed in MEDLINE. (For subscriptions and manuscript subscriptions, visit www.liebertpub.com) Also adding to the literature, proceedings of LRF-co-sponsored second NIH "think tank" conference, The Lymphatic Continuum, was published in 2002 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, with a second edition The Lymphatic Continuum Revisited published in 2008. (To order a copy, visit www.nyas.org)
LRF's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, now in its second funding cycle, awards approximately three quarters of a million dollars in two-year postdoctoral fellowship grants. LRF partners with The Medical Foundation (Boston, MA), medical research grants management experts, to customize and administer this international research grants program. LRF has also established the international Lymphatic Research Leadership Award, encouraging and acknowledging leadership in the field as well as the Andrew Moisoff Young Investigator Poster Awards for the top two Gordon Research Conference poster abstracts.
LRF lays the groundwork for the establishment of a National Lymphatic Disease Patient Registry and Tissue Bank to be housed at Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System.
LRF provides outreach efforts, targeting academic institutions and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, highlighting opportunities and generating a new impetus for research and development to address the unmet needs of the lymphatic disease community.

LRF leadership appointments include:

LRF Founder and President, Wendy Chaite, appointed to National Institutes of Health Director's Council of Public Representatives (COPR) (2004-2008); COPR Liaison to the NIH Director's Advisory Committee (ACD) (2006-2008); and NIH's National Advisory Research Resources Council (NARRC) (2008-2012) and Emeritus Board Member of Research!America.
Chair of LRF Scientific/Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Stanley Rockson, serves in special NIH advisory post, consulting on long-term lymphatic research initiatives within the NIH and nationally and is appointed as inaugural holder of the Tina and Allan Neill Professorship in Lymphatic Research and Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.