SPARC scientific advisors guide more than $70 million, release open resources and announce new data advancing progress in underfunded medical research fields

The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) announced key resources and philanthropic capital to reshape scientific research fields and advance better diagnostics and treatments at the annual Future of Health Summit.

Over the last two months, SPARC has worked with philanthropic partners to guide the strategic deployment of nearly $70 million toward neglected research fields, issue four open-access research reports, and convene major collaboratives to enable focused collaboration and scale.

Guiding Large-scale Science Initiatives

• Health Equity: SPARC has been examining the drivers of health disparities, conducting research to understand how to deploy philanthropic attention and funding to center equity in the biomedical research ecosystem. SPARC’s Health Equity in Science: A Giving Smarter Guide and the companion Stakeholder and Funding Analysis, released in partnership with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, offer a path forward for funders looking to drive progress in achieving health equity for all communities.
• Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD²:) Important data has started to emerge from this SPARC-led initiative, showing new genetic targets associated with risk of bipolar disorder. A partnership with Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, which provides peer support and wellness resources to participants of the study, was also announced.
• AI for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Bringing unprecedented capacity to process large amounts of data, AI offers tremendous potential for research into neurodegenerative diseases (ND). SPARC’s Giving Smarter Guide outlines four high-priority opportunities where philanthropic investment and new partnerships could transform the ND research ecosystem and chart a path toward better care for patients. The 10,000 Brains Project, which commissioned this guide, has committed to providing leadership, expertise, and financial support to ensure that the medical research community can rapidly adopt new technologies for maximum impact.
• Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON): LHON, a rare, mitochondrial disease, is also classified as a neurodegenerative disease. It causes sudden loss of central vision most often during adolescence or early adulthood. This Giving Smarter Guide, written by SPARC scientists with funding from LHON Collective, makes recommendations for philanthropic investments that can advance therapeutic development for LHON and offer insights into other complex neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, glaucoma, and Parkinson’s.

Research Funding Updates

• SPARC’s scientists and advisors are working with the Ann Theodore Foundation Breakthrough Sarcoidosis Initiative on a new round of funding for researchers working to increase foundational understanding of sarcoidosis, a disease that is historically under researched. This represents more than $10 million in deployed and committed funding in just over three years, an infusion of capital that has made tremendous strides in building a neglected research field. Applications are open through January 2025. Awardees for the third cycle of funding were announced in September.
• BD² awarded over $18 million in funding to multidisciplinary teams of scientists and clinicians who investigate new hypotheses and drive innovation in understanding mechanisms that may cause bipolar disorder, with an eye toward novel treatments. This is the second round of Discovery Research funding issued since BD²’s launch in 2022, bringing the total to $78 million committed to advance research and care for people experiencing bipolar disorder. BD2’s recently released milestone report has more.
• The Kissick Family Foundation FTD Grant Program awarded a total of $3 million to recipients of its first-ever round of funding to accelerate basic discoveries, expedite novel treatment options, and improve outcomes for people living with frontotemporal dementia. The FTD grant program is now assessing applications for a second round of funding.

Expanding Funder Collaboratives for Science:

In addition to BD2, several funder collaboratives are bringing high-impact donors together to learn from and with each other, coordinate their activities to address known gaps and reduce redundancies, and hopefully, attract other funding to scale progress.

• Veterans Community Initiative: The Milken Institute, in partnership with the Tullman Family Office and The Duchossois Family Foundation, launched the Veterans Community Initiative, a new collaborative effort aimed at improving the lives of our nation’s veterans. Milken Institute experts aim to comprehensively identify the social and mental challenges faced by veterans and their families as they establish their post-service lives. These two families intend for their partnership to serve as an invitation to other philanthropists, researchers, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders who are committed to ensuring that our veterans prosper.

• Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Funders: During the Future of Health Summit, SPARC convened philanthropists investing in FTD and related neurodegenerative disorders to learn from each other and continue building a trusted community that is creating actionable ideas to move the needle on FTD.

“Progress in any scientific field is the work of many, and the tools needed are many,” said Cara Altimus, PhD, managing director of SPARC. “Strategic biomedical philanthropy is about putting the pieces together with strategic infusions of capital to create the right tools and intentional funding. This is the path to a better future with better diagnostic tools, effective treatments, and equitable outcomes.”

About the Milken Institute

The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on accelerating measurable progress on the path to a meaningful life. With a focus on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, we bring together the best ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues through the lens of what’s pressing now and what’s coming next. For more information, visit https://milkeninstitute.org/.

About the Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration

The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) works to develop, launch, and lead initiatives that fund medical research and invest to accelerate the development of tools and treatments that will bring better health to millions of people. Our expertise lies within a number of medical research fields, including neuroscience, mental health, oncology, rare diseases, and immunology. We partner with philanthropists, leading them through complex medical research and clinical systems and guiding pathways for philanthropy to create a healthy, equitable world.

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