Uplifting Athletes Non-Profit to Host Third Annual Young Investigator Draft Presented by CSL Behring on Saturday, March 7, 2020 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, February 27, 2020 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​​​Uplifting Athletes, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization that inspires the Rare Disease Community with hope through the power of sport, announced plans today for the third annual Young Investigator Draft, presented by CSL Behring, taking place on Saturday, March 7, 2020 at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL).

The football theme of the Young Investigator Draft is inspired by the NFL Draft. Instead of drafting emerging young football talent, this unique draft turns the spotlight on the next generation of promising young medical researchers who are “drafted” and awarded research grants by Uplifting Athletes in order to help them pursue new treatments and potential cures for many of the world’s rarest diseases.

“The Young Investigator Draft serves as a powerful celebration of research within the field of rare diseases, providing a platform to distribute research funding to up-and-coming young researchers and honoring our ‘Rare Disease Champion Team’,” says Rob Long, Executive Director of Uplifting Athletes. “We're proud to have already awarded $180,000 in grants over the past two years alone and look forward to continued success. With every new year, we discover brilliant young researchers who help us learn more about these underserved diseases.”

“CSL Behring is proud to continue sponsoring this innovative program that supports emerging science and rare disease research,” added Kevin Kovaleski, Vice President, Global Commercial Development, Transplant, CSL Behring. “The Young Investigator Draft reinforces our promise to patients by empowering researchers to focus on the rare disease community.”

Uplifting Athletes and its annual Young Investigator Draft focus on rare diseases because they are often underserved and so diverse. Rare diseases are so prevalent that 1 in 10 Americans are affected by rare diseases. That’s a higher percentage than cancer and AIDS combined. Additionally, they transcend gender, race, age, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. Unfortunately, due to the large variety and complexity of rare diseases, there is very little support for rare disease research, especially compared to funding for more common diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Uplifting Athletes exists to close this significant funding gap. 

Uplifting Athletes emphasis for the 2020 Young Investigator Draft is on building greater audience participation for the draft event on Saturday, March 7, 2020, as well as inviting more medical research-related corporate sponsorship and involvement in the event. By doing so, Uplifting Athletes believes it can help transform the way society views, engages with and supports the research that will benefit many future generations. If you are not able to attend the event in person, please tune into the live stream on our Facebook page at bit.ly/2020YID at 7 p.m. EST.

ABOUT UPLIFTING ATHLETES

Founded in 2007, Uplifting Athletes fulfills its mission to inspire the Rare Disease Community with hope through the power of sport with a powerful network of over 20 college football student-athlete led chapters, Uplifting Ambassadors and Team UA participants.

Since its inception, Uplifting Athletes has raised more than $5 million to support the mission of Uplifting Athletes and its charitable programs: Rare Disease Awareness, Rare Disease Research, Uplifting Experiences and Uplifting Leaders. To learn more, please visit upliftingathletes.org

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Source: Uplifting Athletes

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