"Don’t researchers need funding in the millions to end AIDS? How can the mere thousands we raise make any difference at all?"Ever wonder the same as you write that $100 check? Maybe you don’t even bother if $10 is all you can afford?
The 2008 NYCDC AIDS Research Ride raised nearly $100,000 for Dr. Yuntao Wu’s innovative HIV research at George Mason University. Your contributions through me and those raised by 23 other cyclists kept Dr. Wu’s lab fully staffed through the next summer, completing important work that ultimately accelerates their research by as much as a year.
The scientific among you will enjoy delving into the details behind each step leading closer to a therapy to stop HIV. But if your eyes glaze over just getting to the end of the title, scroll past the summary to see the ride credited for its generous funding.
Last year’s event nearly doubled our funding, moving Dr. Wu ever closer to delivering a short-term therapy to freeze HIV and end the destruction of human T cells that leads to AIDS. According to Dr. Wu, "We have at least three papers that were supported by the 2009 NYCDC AIDS ride. One paper is now in review and the other two will be submitted by the end of the summer."
With the NIH, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett-size money in the game, my young teammate wasn’t the first to wonder aloud if our impact could matter to an AIDS researcher. Over the last two summers they’ve marked my route, served lunch and cycled beside me 330 miles down the eastern seaboard, and around the nightly campfire, Dr. Yuntao Wu and his lab staff ooze with excitement over the progress they’re making with that $100, $500, $50, $10...
We'll be there again this September. Thanks for making it count!
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