Who We Are

Project RESTORE stives to restore hope, restore function and restore the lives of patients and families suffering with transverse myelitis or multiple sclerosis. This project funds researchers to work together to discover new biological indicators of neuroimmunologic diseases, develop new imaging strategies, and conduct clinical trials to support the creation of progressive treatments.

Transverse myelitis (TM) and multiple sclerosis (MS) are the two primary disorders our team focuses on. Both disorders attack and injure the nervous system. Although considered rare, more than 2.5 million people suffer with TM and MS throughout world. Because sufferers tend to be young, the personal and economic impact can be staggering. In fact, a recent study estimated that $5.1 billion is lost to MS in the United States each year due to sick leave, premature retirement and loss of income. More importantly, the nature of these disorders has made rapid progress in treatments very difficult. Limitations to progress have historically been patient volume (a large number of patients must be seen at one location) and research (analyzing similarities between patients rather than treating isolated cases).

Project RESTORE strives to accelerate this progress. Our strategy enables us to attract patients from all over the world to not only treat, but to compile the necessary data to identify common symptoms and causes and develop and offer clinical studies.

Project RESTORE is a collaborative effort between our multiple sclerosis and transverse myelitis centers. At Johns Hopkins, we believe that without collaboration, money and effort are not spent efficiently, brilliant research is not optimized and progress is slower than it needs to be. Over the next five years, our goal is to help these researchers receive the financial support they need to collaborate and accelerate the process of discovering and testing new therapies. We truly believe we can combat the debilitating nature of these disorders.