Dean on Road to Discovery to raise funds for medical research reaches final leg of journey | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Dean on Road to Discovery to raise funds for medical research reaches final leg of journey Dean on Road to Discovery to raise funds for medical research reaches final leg of journey Published: August 02, 2013 Author: Marissa Gebhard On Friday (Aug. 2), Greg Crawford, dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, will ride the final leg of a 3,476-mile bicycle ride into Baltimore. His arrival coincides with the National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation’s Family Support and Medical Research Conference and a meeting of the International Niemann-Pick Disease Alliance, which brings together researchers from 16 countries around the world. The “Road to Discovery” bicycle ride has raised awareness and more than $400,000 in funding for research and a clinical trial to treat children with Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease, a rare, fatal cholesterol-storage disorder that took the lives of three grandchildren of legendary Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian. Little was known about the disease when the Parseghian children were diagnosed in the 1990s, but investigations by scientists around the world have yielded scientific breakthroughs in recent years. At the conference this weekend, researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Tulane University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Washington and Lee University and the University of Notre Dame will join representatives from the Food and Drug Administration and pharmaceutical corporations to discuss possible treatments for patients with Niemann-Pick disease. The Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation and the Charles Edison Fund have partnered with the University of Notre Dame to finance research to find treatments for NPC disease. With their funding, a group of Notre Dame researchers and their collaborators were able to identify novel medications that have shown promising results in treating NPC disease cells in the laboratory. Over the past four summers, Crawford has bicycled a total of 11,226 miles across the nation. He says, “My constant inspiration is the children and families who are suffering from this disease.” In his daily blog, he has written about many of the families who have inspired him throughout his journey and challenged him to never stop until a cure is found for the devastating disease. Contact: Greg Crawford, 574-344-0057, Gregory_Crawford@nd.edu; or Marissa Gebhard, 574-631-4465, Gebhard.3@nd.edu Posted In: Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 05, 2022 Astrophysicists find evidence for the presence of the first stars October 04, 2022 NIH awards $4 million grant to psychologists researching suicide prevention September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 22, 2022 Climate-prepared countries are losing ground, latest ND-GAIN index shows For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn