Objectives

The AMDF’s foremost purpose is to find a cure, or at the very least some form of meaningful treatment. To this end it is committed to supporting and funding research projects directed towards understanding more about mitochondrial medicine.

The AMDF’s second goal is to provide support for people who have mito disease now until a cure becomes available.

Research:

Attract more scientists into the field of mito research
Promote and fund new and existing research
Establish an Australian centre of excellence for mito research

Support:

Provide accurate and useful information to sufferers and their families
Bring sufferers and the families together. Offer practical advice to sufferers and their families.
Lobby government to promote the profile of mito disease and thus attract more funding for research and support services.
Advocate and promote a patient referral process within the medical community.
Managing and maintaining an informative and interactive web site for the mito community
Providing an urgent medical help line
Setting up support groups for local advice and patient interaction
Providing printed and online resource material for the public & medical profession
Providing access to pharmaceuticals & ancillary services (e.g. physio, occupational therapy etc)

Educate:

Provide accurate and useful information to sufferers and their families in several forms
Raise the profile of mito disease within the medical community to shorten the time taken for sufferers to receive an accurate diagnosis and referral to a specialist
Organising Information Days with expert speakers throughout Australia
Developing an accurate Australasian wide patient registry & coordinating it with other genetic disease patient registries here & around the world
Raising awareness amongst the scientific community, medical profession and general public

The Future

Our future is busy and full of hope. Research & clinical trial projects are well supported in Australia by excellent teaching hospitals, qualified specialists and clinical research organisations, and are often far more cost-effective than comparable projects in the US and European locations. The AMDF scholarship & research partnerships aim to significantly increase the volume and impact of mito research and to support and recognise innovation in high standard research programs.

The AMDF will continue awarding research scholarships & grants for sufficiently meritorious individual research projects each year as funds permit.

It will award two prizes for the best exhibitions at the forthcoming AussieMit 2010 Scientific conference on mito medicine at the Garvan Institute, Sydney in November, and will continue to arrange educational Mito Seminars & Exhibitions for doctors at State GPCE’s, the next one being in Melbourne in November.

It wishes to issue the AMDF Hope Award for the highest corporate fundraising contribution for the organisation.
In addition, in the coming year it would like to:

Hold further Mito Information Days
Upgrade our website
Begin the role out of a nationwide patient registry
And continue to collaborate with our counterpart organisations around the world to hasten the discovery of cures & effective treatments