How would you like to help discover the cure for the Zika virus? Fund treatment that allows deaf people to hear again? Give a rare disease more recognition so that it’s studied properly?
And what if I told you that you don’t have to be a doctor or a millionaire donor to play a part in advancing medical research? Drumroll please! It’s called Healthfundit.
Healthfundit is “a medical research discovery platform where anyone can connect with scientists and help make advances that may otherwise not be possible.” It works like this: scientists submit their research to Healthfundit (which the startup makes easy to do), the community votes on projects, standout proposals receive review, and select projects receive funding.
According to the Healthfundit website, roughly 20 years’ worth of potentially life-saving treatments never undergo testing because of broken research systems. Let’s not take anything away from the attention diseases like cancer receive, but let’s also acknowledge that a lot of people suffer needlessly because their conditions don’t have the same super villain status that captures notice and research funding.
Healthfundit raises the potential for breakthroughs in lesser publicized medical areas. It gives people both inside and outside the medical field a greater voice in saying what cutting-edge research should move forward.
My mother has rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Unless you know someone with RA you might think it’s just common aches and pains that bother elderly people, when the truth is that RA is a chronic condition tied in with a compromised immune system. As in my mother’s case, it can be excruciating painful. I certainly didn’t know much about RA beforehand, and (though awareness is growing) I have often been frustrated by the lack of both understanding and relief that surrounds the disease.
Surely some of that lack is my perception. Nonetheless, that’s the beauty of Healthfundit – it creates a space where I might vote for research related to topics important to me. And everyone can do the same.
Right now, you might decide to upvote research to stop the spread of brain tumors, help disabled people find independence using a wearable tongue drive system, and fight cystic fibrosis, just to name a few of the amazing projects appearing on Healthfundit.
How good would it feel to contribute to the discovery of a cure? Get out there and vote on medical research today.
Photo Credits
Healthfundit | Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock
