Red Sox Support Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, Disease Research at June Game Against Detroit Tigers

The Boston Red Sox hosted Cure Alzheimer’s Fund at a recent baseball game against the Detroit Tigers to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s and bring attention to the nonprofit group’s support for research into new treatments and ways of preventing or curing this disease.

The event included a ceremony on the team’s Fenway Park field to honor Alzheimer’s researchers,  and a color guard of members of the nearby Quincy Fire Department, which  holds an annual fundraising event benefiting disease research. The first pitch of the June 5 game was thrown by Rudy Tanzi, MD, chair of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Leadership Group.

“We’re so grateful to the Red Sox organization for focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and the critical need for more research,” Barbara Chambers, senior vice president of Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, said in a press release.  “The event helped us to honor representatives of the research community who are focused on the science that could lead to a cure or effective treatments We realize that this is a special gift that provided us an opportunity to educate Red Sox fans on how they can be a part of the fight to cure Alzheimer’s disease.”

The day also included interviews with Alzheimer’s specialists, including Tanzi and Fund board co-chairs Henry McCance and Jeff Morby, topped by a posting of facts about Alzheimer’s and its impact on patients and their families on the team’s scoreboard.

The Red Sox won the game, 6-0.

Founded in 2004, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is dedicated to funding promising research that aims to prevent, slow or reverse Alzheimer’s.

The Fund has to date contributed more than $70 million to research, supporting a number of “break-through” projects, including the “Alzheimer’s in a dish” study, in which Harvard scientists successfully converted skin cells from early-onset Alzheimer’s patients into the types of neurons affected by the disease. This 2014 work made it possible for a first time to study the disease in living human cells.

According to website, 100 percent of all donations to the Alzheimer’s Fund go directly to research.