When Alex Manfull died, at 26 years old, due to a neuroimmune disorder known as PANDAS, Susan and William Manfull established a Fund in their daughter’s name with the vision that no life ever again be cut short — or interrupted — by PANDAS/PANS. The Alex Manfull Fund (https://thealexmanfullfund.org/) is proud to have provided the funding to establish a Brain Bank at Georgetown University Medical Center for brains and brain tissue from donors diagnosed with PANDAS/PANS and Other Neuroimmune Disorders (POND). It opened in January 2022 and, sadly, now has 11 brains. The Alex Manfull Fund is dedicated to increasing awareness, advancing education for physicians and mental health professionals about how to recognize and treat these disorders and supporting research to further understand these little known disorders. If only one of Alex’s doctors had recognized PANDAS, Alex would be here today. Originally from New Hampshire, Alex died in Washington, DC in 2018. She loved to run along the Potomac so we know this race would be very meaningful to her.
