In August 2011, Shake It Up Australia Foundation established a collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF)  to leverage Parkinson’s drug development expertise in Australia.

Shake It Up Australia Foundation disburses funds in Australia to grantees identified through the MJFF process. The two organisations have also collaborated to bring MJFF’s landmark clinical study, the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), to Australia. MJFF is also partners in The Australian Parkinson’s Mission which will see the Linked Clinical Trial program come to Australia.

This collaboration builds upon a strong base of promising Parkinson’s research in Australia and allows both groups to maximise the impact of capital raised from the Australian Parkinson’s community to accelerate better treatments on the path to a cure. Under the partnership, all funds raised by the Shake It Up Australia Foundation and our supporters are directed toward research efforts in Australia.

MJFF provides scientific oversight and grant management of the PPMI study and any other funded projects with the goal of enabling the Shake It Up Australia Foundation’s funding to reach its target — improved therapies on the path to a cure for Parkinson’s — more quickly and with greater impact.

MJFF, the world’s largest private funder of Parkinson’s research, is dedicated to identifying and funding the science that can speed better treatments toward pharmacy shelves. Both MJFF and Shake It Up Australia Foundation share a commitment to leverage donor-raised resources for potentially transformative research — sooner rather than later.