Meet the 2020 Scholars

"What do you believe is the greatest unaddressed patient need in the CF community, and if you could, how would you try to fix it? Who would you partner with (e.g. public figure, organization) to help fix the issue and why?"

It would be unrealistic to say "the greatest unaddressed patient need in the CF community" is anything other than our lack of a cure. This is both something that is unaddressed and would be most impactful to every CF patient. Although there has been tremendous pharmaceutical progress in the past few years, I as well as many others with CF both pre- and post-transplant are unable to benefit from these miracle medicines. Even those currently using gene-altering medicines still struggle from CF symptoms because they still have CF. When a cure comes, the entire CF community would benefit. Finding a cure for CF is, of course, no easy feat. It is going to take the commitment of many individuals and adequate capital to finance the research. Because of the mission of the CF Foundation ("We will not rest until we find a cure for all people with CF"), I have always supported this organization in our search for a cure. My whole extended family, which is quite large, has participated in CF Foundation fundraising efforts. The CF Foundation's Great Strides, for example, is now a yearly event for my family. In fact, when I was in college and inpatient during the local Great Strides event, I was so happy to hear that my entire sorority came out to walk and raise funds for the CF Foundation. I hope all of our efforts have paid off and the CF cure is near.