Dear Jo,

Summer is officially here! It promises to be a busy one for all of us at U2FP, as we move forward with a number of projects to advance recovery therapies for spinal cord injury. So much goes on behind the scenes here; in this newsletter I want to take a moment to remind our constituents about some of our programs and services. We'll wrap up with the latest information on this year's Working 2 Walk Symposium in Minneapolis.

SCI Clinical Trials. U2FP maintains an updated listing of ongoing and completed clinical trials for spinal cord injury on our website. As more therapies go to trial, it will be important for members of our community to prepare themselves and participate. This basic information page from the NIH is an excellent resource to gain an understanding of how clinical trials work for participants.

SAB/ARC. Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Advocate Research Committee (ARC) continue to review research proposals that have been submitted by various community foundations; we provide this service at no charge. While U2FP itself does not fund research projects, we want to support other SCI groups that are raising money to support research and are unsure where to direct their funds. To date our SAB has reviewed over $4 million in proposals, of which over $3.5 million has been funded. We welcome inquiries from SCI organizations that would like to take advantage of the services of our world-class SAB. Contact donnasullivan@u2fp.org.

Team U2FP. Under the leadership of Kathryn Mahoney, our Team U2FP program has expanded to include a variety of races where you and your friends can get out and support the advancement of cures for spinal cord injury. The list of events includes short, medium, and long distances, with options for runners, walkers, wheelchair racers and handcyclists. To date all listings are in the Chicago area, but if there's an event in your area contact Kathryn to get it listed and learn about our support services.

Huge thanks to the 12 racers who have committed to Team SCIS/u2fp for the October 9 Chicago Marathon; we're with you all the way! Meet the Marathoners.

Working 2 Walk Symposium. We are very excited about the research news and advocacy stories that will be part of the agenda at Working 2 Walk in Minneapolis. Led by U2FP Advocacy Director Matthew Rodreick, a coalition of spinal cord injury scientists and advocacy groups in Minnesota built a powerful partnership, aimed at passage of state legislation to fund paralysis research. We will hear from the various stakeholders who joined the coalition, and learn about their successes and how they are impacting the cure effort.

Hotel Reservations can now be booked at the RadissonBlu Mall of America. We have secured a special group rate of $149/night; please follow the instructions on our web page to get the proper accommodations.

Speakers: We continue to build the agenda for Working 2 Walk, and want to ensure that we feature cutting-edge research and recovery news for our audience. We've just updated our list of confirmed speakers, and think you will agree that it's an outstanding group who will touch on a variety of important issues in the quest to advance research, including science, translation, and advocacy. The topics are sure to trigger some lively discussion and strategizing across stakeholder groups.

Supporters: There is still time to join the Working 2 Walk team as a conference supporter. Our publicity efforts, web traffic, and social media conversations will increase steadily over the next several months; be part of the buzz as an official W2W Supporter. Click here for information on all of our Supporter packages.

Registration for the Working 2 Walk Symposium will open later this summer.

Questions about Working 2 Walk should be directed to Marilyn Smith, marilynsmith@u2fp.org.