Statement from the President

The Thrasher Research Fund continues to provide grants to medical researchers for a specific purpose: to benefit the lives of children. The Fund has been fortunate in attracting a dedicated professional staff whose expertise allows them to guide the Fund’s processes. In addition, world class scientists and outstanding community leaders who serve on the Fund's Executive and Advisory Committees provide generous gifts of time and expertise. External reviewers also devote significant time and talent to ensuring that the Fund’s rigorous review process is maintained and that only the best projects are recommended for funding. Publications from Thrasher-funded projects can be found in premier medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Pediatrics and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In 2006 the Fund initiated its Early Career Award Program to afford promising young scientists the opportunity to launch careers focused on finding solutions to children’s medical problems. This program has been tremendously successful, with a talented and dedicated group of grantees contributing important findings and laying the foundation for productive careers. The success of this program has justified its continuation beyond the initial trial period.

I am also happy to announce that we have named the grants that have been the core mission of the Fund since its inception as the “E.W. ‘Al’ Thrasher Awards.” The name recognizes the vision of Al Thrasher, who as an inventor, was committed to finding better ways of caring for our children. Ideal applications for the E.W. “Al” Thrasher Award address significant health problems that affect children in large numbers and offer the potential for practical solutions to these problems. Such solutions should be innovative and have the potential for rapid and broad applicability with low financial and technical barriers to implementation.

Perhaps there is no greater gift that anyone can bestow on a child than the gift of life and health. The Thrasher Research Fund will continue to seek and fund those projects that have the greatest probability to improve the lives of children through finding solutions for the prevention and treatment of childhood diseases.

A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D., MBA, MPH
President, Thrasher Research Fund