11 years on and back to the Symposium

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It’s not just researchers, clinicians and healthcare professionals who attend the International Symposium on ALS/MND. One of our trustees, Julie Draper, will be attending this year’s symposium after a break of 11 years to find out the latest developments and view the symposium first hand as a trustee.

Here Julie explains a bit about herself and why she’s attending the symposium:

Dr Julie Draper (MND Association Trustee)
Dr Julie Draper (MND Association Trustee)

“Hello there! I am Julie Draper, a retired GP and have been a trustee of the Association for four and a half years. This will be my second visit to the symposium: my first was 11 years ago in Melbourne, where I first learned about the cutting edge research as it was then. I met so many people there who were so welcoming, friendly and generous with their time.

“The reason I went was because my next door neighbour (our first major donor), was living with MND. He charged me with making sure that we got to the bottom of this awful disease and found a cure. A big task indeed!

“And so I became an AV for nearly 10 years, and then a trustee. I also sit on the BRAP committee, which decides how to spend a third of our income on research. This committee funds research which we think will lead to a greater understanding of MND, be able to stop it in its tracks and ultimately lead to a cure. This is the main reason why I am here again. I want to be right up to date with researchers and their work, both the science and the research on care. I also thought it was important for me to be present as a representative of the trustee face of the Association to the MND research world, and have their blessing to be here.

“So do follow this blog, where I will be helping the research team by posting my views on the symposium, and I shall be tweeting too! Speak to you soon!”

I work as a Research Officer within the MND Association to help organise the International Symposium and communicating the latest updates of MND research across our social media platforms. I graduated with a master's degree in Neuroscience from Cardiff University in 2023. I have previously supported the awareness of Fragile X syndrome within the UK.

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