CITIZENS UNITED FOR RESEARCH IN EPILEPSY

Our Mission
Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for epilepsy by raising funds for research and by increasing awareness of the prevalence and devastation of this disease.

CURE was founded by parents of children with epilepsy who were frustrated with their inability to protect their children from the devastation of seizures and the side effects of medications. Unwilling to sit back and accept the debilitating effects of epilepsy, these parents joined forces to spearhead the search for a cure. Administrative costs are kept to a minimum so that money raised can go directly toward epilepsy research aimed at finding a cure.

CURE Research Grants
Since its inception in 1998, CURE has raised $9 million to fund epilepsy research and other initiatives that will lead the way to a cure. CURE funds seed grants to young and established investigators to explore new areas and collect the data necessary to apply for further funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). To date, CURE has awarded over 75 cutting-edge projects.

CURE-Sponsored Conferences
Since its inception in 1998, CURE co-sponsored the National Institutes of Health Conference, Curing Epilepsy: Focus on the Future in March of 2000. This White House-initiated conference was the first of its kind to focus on epilepsy. Since then, CURE has also lent support to other relevant workshops and conferences, including the March 2007 NIH Conference.

CURE Advocacy
Through its advocacy efforts, CURE has helped raise federal expenditures by the NIH on epilepsy research from $68 million in 1998 to over $100 million so far. CURE was instrumental in the creation of the Epilepsy Research Benchmarks, which were created to help guide the research community toward a cure for epilepsy.

CURE has also worked to establish epilepsy as a disease which merits and now receives crucial funding support for research through the Department of Defense. Returning veterans with traumatic brain injury are at high risk of developing epilepsy.