PROFILES APRIL/MAY 2019 BY LAUREN PAIGE KENNEDY Ann Romney Receives Award for Neurologic Contributions

"Neurologic research is often done in silos," says Ann Romney, explaining that researchers typically work on specific brain disorders and don't collaborate across conditions. But the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases (ARCND), which she and her husband, Mitt, established in 2014 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, has a different mission. "At the center, the lab is separated by a glass partition, but it's open. All these researchers [in different areas] talk with each other and find out what the others are doing. It spurs them in different directions," says Romney, who has raised nearly $50 million to fund this kind of collaboration.

Ann Romney with Howard L. Weiner, MD, co-director of the ARCND. Courtesy Ann Romney The center's scientific innovations—and Romney's fundraising efforts—have earned her a Public Leadership in Neurology Award (PLINA) from the American Brain Foundation. The philanthropic partner of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the Foundation strives to connect researchers with donors to fight brain disease. Romney will receive the award at the AAN's Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in May.

"It's wonderful," Romney says of the honor. She feels the same way about the center's collaborative approach, which has attracted more than 300 leading medical professionals to advance treatment options, discover overlapping therapies, and accelerate the search for cures for a range of neurologic conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and brain tumors.

This exchange of ideas is getting results, says Howard L. Weiner, MD, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Ann Romney Center. In the four-plus years since the center's launch, its research has contributed to advances in PET imaging that can detect MS in ways that were not possible before and to promising studies involving the microbiome, the body's complex immunologic ecosystem that fends off disease.

Researchers at the center have also worked on a new nasal vaccine developed to prevent plaques that cause beta-amyloid-protein fragments implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease—from building up in the brain; the vaccine will soon undergo human trials.

The center also hopes to treat patients with secondary progressive MS—those whose disability worsens insidiously after an initial period of relapses and remissions—with an antibody given nasally, says Dr. Weiner, who is also founder and director of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "We're currently giving it to healthy volunteers, testing it in doses approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. If all goes well, we'll test it in progressive MS patients." Personal Stake Romney—whose husband is a US senator from Utah and former Republican presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts-believes private philanthropy is crucial because out-of-the-box thinking doesn't easily attract government grants. To raise money, she and the center's top researchers host events several times a year where potential donors learn more about the work they do.

Her commitment to this kind of research is personal. She was diagnosed with MS in 1998. A mother of five sons, a grandmother of 24, and a wife of 50 years, Romney says she hasn't had a flare-up since 2012. "I do get fatigued," she admits. "Every once in a while someone will say, 'You're limping!' and I'll say, 'No, I'm not—oh, I am!' The weakness is still there." Taking Care

She attributes her continued remission to a positive outlook and healthy habits, including riding horses, which requires focus, stamina, and strength. "Getting out and forcing myself to do things was really hard," Romney says. "But when you're on top of a horse and it's moving, you've got to keep up with it."

Acupuncture and reflexology also help lift her exhaustion, relieve nerve pain, and improve her gait and posture, she says. "And sleep is huge!" Eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise and rest are essential, she says.

Attention to her diet led Romney to start work on a cookbook for healthy eating, with expert guidance from a few nutritionists. "It's such a different lane for me to be in," admits the author of In This Together: My Story, her 2015 memoir about living with MS. "I'm not sure when I'll finish the cookbook. But I've really come to appreciate healthy living and people who promote it."

Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter!

Email Address Subscribe Now

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms.

The twists and turns of Romney's life—developing MS, writing a memoir, establishing a center for neurologic research, working on a cookbook, and receiving the PLINA—surprise even her. "I was laughing with my husband recently because never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be doing these things."

Former Music Manager Lisa Cohen Empowers Women with MS