Letter To The Editor: Alpha-1 Foundation Golf Outing

To the Editor:

I believe Bettina was looking down on us and provided a great sunny day for golf. The eight fundraisers I have hosted at the GCC over the past several years on behalf of the Alpha-1 Foundation have raised well over half a million dollars. This has funded cutting edge research and improved the lives of so many Alphas. All had a good time.

For those who came early for The Alpha-1 Project session, Jean March Quach, the President of TAP, introduced Dr. Chris Mueller of UMass Medical School who described in detail his visionary dual-vector gene therapy research in pursuing a breakthrough cure for Alpha-1, as well as ALS. I am a founding board member of this venture philanthropy initiative, a value-added co-investor with genomic biotech’s to accelerate finding a cure for Alpha-1, driving forward early stage drug development by de-risking the process.

At the award ceremonies for honorees, Chris Mueller and Bob Barrett, we all heard about the progress the Alpha-1 Foundation is making in finding a cure. Chris Mueller gave an overview on the progress his lab is making in gene therapy which may ultimately be the CURE. We also honored Bob Barrett, the President of AlphaNet and CFO of the Alpha-1 Foundation, a visionary who truly made a huge difference in the lives of so many Alphas and is retiring after 20 years of service. The President of the Alpha-1 Foundation, Henry Moehring, honored Bettina’s legacy of creating national awareness of Alpha-1, and supporting early genetic testing and investment in cutting edge technology from stem cells to genomics.

My son, Bill Irvine, spoke about Bettina's impact on him in stressing discoveries of new treatments with technology. He referenced the future generations and the importance of research for his two nieces and his own daughter, my beautiful grandchildren. My two other sons, Andrew and Jonathan, are both teachers on the West Coast and have also been very much influenced by Bettina's stress on the importance of new science. They are artists as well as teachers and inspire new holistic thinking which is our road to the future.

We look forward to seeing you at our next golf event and other educational opportunities for engagement. Our new medical approaches and breakthroughs have broad applicability, and the cross-over benefits and translational bridge from research to patient testing is accelerating quickly. With the successes of gene therapy there is a convergence of treatments for rare genetic diseases and precision medicine for cancers which are also genetic diseases, and it’s happening now.

Best,

Ken Irvine

Image via Shutterstock