Welcome

January 29th, 2011

An extreme makeover for Team CF in 2011

Jim Wilson

Thanks to a committed group of Cystic Fibrosis advocates, cyclists and sponsors, our first year as a Team was an unquestionable success. The Elite Mountain and Cyclocross Teams had great race results and brought national recognition to the Team and its mission. A nationwide network of 100 cyclists joined the Club Team including 20 athletes living with Cystic Fibrosis; their stories of perseverance and commitment to fitness are inspirational. Team CF played a critical role in the first series of Cycle for Life benefit rides organized by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). I want to thank all of our sponsors and especially Human Zoom Bikes and Boards and Trek Bicycles for getting behind the Team during this formative time.

Encouraged by this success, we have charted an ambitious plan to take Team CF to an even greater level in 2011. To do so, we undertook an ‘extreme makeover’ that includes a new organizational structure, an expanded Elite Team, a new state-of-the-art website, new uniform designs, a reorganized Club Team and a new title sponsor in Specialized Bicycles.

I recently established a foundation called “Health Through Fitness in Orphan Diseases” whose goal is to promote the benefits of exercise and fitness to improve physical and mental health in kids with less common and often chronic diseases. Team CF has been established as the premier program within this new foundation. We were able to expand the support of most of our sponsors in 2011 and establish a title sponsorship with Specialized. The foundation will be seeking financial support for Team CF through grants and private donations.

Our most immediate objective is to expand membership in the Team with the goal of bringing it up to 300 members nationwide. Details as to how to join Team CF can be found on our membership page.

As some of you may know, my day job is as a Professor in the Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania where I am involved in genetic research with a primary focus on developing a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Despite significant progress in understanding the mechanism of disease in Cystic Fibrosis – a true cure has been elusive. Recent progress in the laboratory and research clinics gives reason for optimism. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has partnered with industry to develop small molecule drugs that ‘tweak’ the defective gene product to function better; late stage clinical studies look encouraging with the potential of some new treatments just around the corner. My own research has focused on the field of gene therapy to correct the disease at its root by introducing into lung cells a normal version of the defective gene. While this may seem straight-forward, it has proven to be a technical challenge. New and improved vehicles for delivering genes have been discovered and have shown to be effective in other genetic diseases. We and others hope to build on these successes toward genetic cures for CF.

Never in the history of medicine have we witnessed such opportunities to fundamentally change the way we treat and hopefully cure disabling and lethal diseases. As a Team of cyclists, we will do whatever we can to assure that the CF community is a primary beneficiary of these advances. As a member of Team CF, get out on the bike whenever you can wearing your Team CF kits and spread the word about the disease and the potential for meaningful improvements in the quality of life for those living with CF. Reach out to those you know with CF and encourage them to undertake a durable fitness program in consultation with their physicians so as to preserve their health until we can come up with cures. And finally, help us to work in conjunction with CFF to raise money for CF research through the Cycle for Life events. Research is not cheap and times are tough – this is the time to dig deep so we can exploit the wonderful advances in biomedical research towards a cure for CF.

All the best,
Jim