This post is part of our continuing series from MJFF staff on the conferences they're attending and how they hope to contribute to and benefit from the experience.

As financial budgets tighten and commercial interests become increasingly risk-adverse, researchers recognize and elevate the role foundations can play in funding drug development. Since our inception The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) has taken a business-minded approach to curing Parkinson’s—collaborating and instituting an aggressive research agenda to reach our goal. Senior Vice President of Research Partnerships Sohini Chowdhury oversees MJFF’s relationships with various stakeholders.

This week she will give a talk on the Foundation’s role and business approach at the Academic Drug Discovery Consortium 2013 Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I’m speaking on October 11 on ‘Strategic Venture Philanthropy through Foundations to Support Drug Discovery and Translational Research.’ The term ‘venture philanthropy’ refers to the trend of using donor-raised capital to invest in so-called ‘risky’ projects for philanthropic goals. Our Foundation’s track record of driving new, audacious research initiatives and funding high-risk/high-reward projects is possible because of our single-minded mission and our broad donor pool. These factors position us uniquely and make our presence in the drug development landscape so important.

I am looking forward to hearing the other presentations during my session on ‘Philanthropy and Corporate Venture Support.’ Karen Chen, PhD, from the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation also will speak on the foundation role; I’m always interested to hear what our peers are doing.

Finally, P. Jeffrey Conn, PhD, one of our scientific advisors, an MJFF awardee and a founder of the Academic Drug Discovery Consortium, will also be presenting, and I’m looking forward to checking in with him.”

Learn more about The Michael J. Fox Foundation research strategy and our de-risking successes.