Global Alopecia Mission is dedicated exclusively to advancing the understanding of Alopecia Areata through research; the development and testing of effective treatment(s); and finding a cure. Our goal is to inform the community at large about Alopecia Areata and to advocate for the need to increase peer-reviewed research which can only be accomplished through increased public and private funding. Global Alopecia Mission is organized as a charitable, educational and scientific non-profit pursuant to section 501c3 of the US Internal Revenue Service Code and NCGS 55A-1-40(4).
WE are founded on the premise that the needs of Alopecia Areata patients are not being met, based on the following observations:
- Historical advancements and current progress is unacceptable.
- The current frequency and level of research is insufficient; current research efforts are far too limited in scope and in potential future application.
- Current treatments procedures and outcomes are unacceptable; medical and pharmaceutical interventions have dismal track records and are known to have potentially harmful side effects.
- Pharmaceutical efforts are not AA-specific and are predominantly based on suppressing general immune function in persons that are already immuno-compromised.
- That many possible causes (triggers) of AA and treatment therapies have gone unexplored.
- The primary Alopecia Areata organizations entrusted with public and private money are fundamentally emotional support service organizations and as such have a genuine conflict of interest in receiving funds for research and/or administering or directing research efforts, (ie. improvement in treatment outcomes and/or a cure would diminish or eliminate their memberships).
- Many of the most influential AA support organizations have ‘unwittingly’ harmed the cause of AA research. They have over time improperly molded the perception of alopecia areata (within the AA community and without) to one of overcoming self-image issues due to the cosmetic manifestations of AA rather than that of a disease that needs a cure. Their ongoing and predominant ‘bald is beautiful’ and ‘only hair’ campaigns continue to erode support directed at research and a cure.
- Although AA affects 1.7% of the general population, public funding is limited and problematic.
- Current and well-informed information on alopecia areata is not readily available to patients.
To meet the needs of patients that are currently unmet, Global Alopecia Mission shall develop a global advocacy network and membership maintained through internet technologies to focus on the following:
- RESEARCH – Focus on AA-only research, treatment studies, and trials, in order to collect and analyze patient bio-data to develop and/or advance effective treatment(s) and a cure.
- Establish an AA-only research facility with inpatient evaluation capabilities.
- Comprehensive and large scale laboratory testing, data collection and data evaluation.
- Conduct clinically supervised studies/trials to evaluate efficacy and inform research directions.
- INFORMATION – Large scale surveying to identify possible triggers and AA expression trends in order to inform research, treatment, and prevention developments or initiatives.
- Comprehensive and large scale collection and analysis of historical and running patient data.
- Comprehensive computer data analysis of patient data.
- Collection of medical-pharmaceutical and other public treatment experience data.
- Provide comprehensive and accurate Alopecia Areata information to inform the public and advance our efforts.
- ADVOCACY
- Highlight the need for research, treatments and a cure to the public, medical, research and government bodies.
- Watch-dog and evaluate current research, trials, and treatments.
- Establish private and public funding mechanisms and networks.
- Coordinate with and inform ongoing and future medical research efforts.