b"20052020 and BEYOND EVERY ORGANIZATION HAS AN ORIGIN STORYand Id like to tell you ours. When I began mySo when our team was approached by the Kornfeld research career in palliative care 25 years ago, theFoundation in 2005 to seek insight into promoting landscape of our field was bleak. Having recentlypalliative care research, I thought back over my own finished my geriatrics fellowship I had witnessed theresearch career. What contributions might I have suffering associated with many illnesses impactingmade if Id had the required pilot data to convince an older adults, but I was especially disturbed by theNIH study section that my methods were feasible suffering associated with dementiaboth from and my measures were reliable and valid? What if the disease itself and from its sometimes questionablethe study sections to which I'd sent my work had treatments (tube feeding, restraints). I was determinedeven one or two members with palliative care to improve the quality of life for these patients andexpertise? And what if Id enjoyed the support, their families. I set out with a plan to develop a five-yearguidance, and feedback of a community of palliative NIH career development (K08) award, focused oncare researchers who saw the importance of my identifying sources of suffering in advanced dementia. work and shared my vision?But as I began developing my research ideas withAs I strategized over the course of several weeks,mentors and advisorssharing specific aims withI realized the true work I wanted to do with the NIH program officersit quickly became clear Kornfeld Foundation was to create a home for that a palliative care proposal was unlikely to doresearchers who were much like my younger self.well at a study section. With concerns aboutI envisioned a place that would eliminate their significance, measurement, patient dropout, and distractions; connect them to their true ambitions; a lack of reviewers with palliative care expertise,and allow them to conduct the research they are my grant seemed doomed to fail. most passionate about.Working with my mentor I shifted gears. I crafted aToday, 15 years after that thought experiment,new proposal, this time targeting issues that betterI remain overjoyed by the impact that the National aligned with funding priorities (hip fracture outcomesPalliative Care Research Center has made in the and delirium risk factors). While these topicspalliative care community. I recognize that none of tangentially touched on what I truly wanted to study,this would have been possible if it hadnt been for the work that made my heart beat faster had to bethe courage of the Kornfeld Foundation to take a done on the side, or funded through philanthropicleap of faith in us, which in turn paved the way for so dollars. I accepted Id chosen to travel on a safemany other generous funders and organizations to research pathwaywhich is where I remained forsupport my vision. Finally, I would like to extend a almost a decade, writing fundable proposals thatspecial thanks to our entire palliative care research were specifically focused on traditional areas ofcommunity. Your ambition, scientific talent, and geriatrics research, such as functional and cognitiveeducated risk-taking are infectious and inspiring. outcomes and means of enhancing them. At thisUndeniably, palliative care research and its evidence point practical necessity was fully leading the charge.base are in a better place today because of all of you.My passionate interests remained in the shadows, and I sorely lacked the support and fellowship of a like-minded professional community that might have convinced me to do otherwise.R. Sean Morrison, MD, NPCRC Director1"