SJBF Supports Project Medishare Haitian Relief Effort

MIAMI, FL – The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation announced today it will be donating half of the proceeds from its upcoming fund-raising reception and dinner to The University of Miami Global Institute/Project Medishare’s Haitian Relief Effort. The fund-raiser which will be held during Super Bowl week in Miami on February 3 will feature Florida Governor Charlie Crist as the special guest (see details below).

“In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, we thought our contribution to the relief efforts in Haiti would be to donate half of the proceeds from our upcoming fund-raiser to Project Medishare,” said Patrick Donohue, founder of The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation. “There are undoubtedly many children and young adults in Haiti who have already sustained a brain injury under these dire circumstances so we feel it is very important to donate to a world-class organization dedicated to the children and families of Haiti.”

Governor Charlie Crist stated, “Drs. Barth Green and Arthur Fournier and their team at Project Medishare have shown an unending commitment to the families of Haiti since they started the organization back in 1995; as expected, they were one of the first teams on the ground Wednesday morning, continuing that commitment. We are fortunate to have such world-class professionals at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine who have the ability and desire to support the people of Haiti.”

“We are working day and night to help these children and families suffering from the earthquake in Haiti,”said Dr. Gillian Hotz, Co- Director of the Pediatric Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She continued,“Dr. Green is a daily inspiration to all of us at the University of Miami and he is at his best in a time of crisis.” The University of Miami is the National Lead Center of Excellence in Acute Care for the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation’s National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan (PABI Plan) and Dr. Hotz is the principal investigator.

ABOUT The University of Miami Global Institute/Project Medishare Project Medishare for Haiti is a Florida non-profit founded in 1995 by Drs. Barth Green and Arthur Fournier from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. It is an organization that has been dedicated to sharing its human and technical resources with its Haitian partners in the quest to achieve quality healthcare and development services for all. Dr. Barth Green is the Chairman and Professor of the Miller School’s Department of Neurological Surgery. For more information about Project Medishare or to donate directly to their organization, please visit www.ProjectMedishare.org.

ABOUT The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation (SJBF) is named after 4-year-old Sarah Jane Donohue who was violently shaken by her baby nurse when she was just 5 days old, breaking four ribs, both collarbones and causing a severe brain injury. The SJBF has quickly galvanized the pediatric acquired brain injury (PABI) community into action through the development of the largest, most-collaborative International Advisory Board of leading experts from every major medical institution (from MD Anderson and Johns Hopkins to Mayo Clinic and Duke) and Research University (from Harvard and Yale to UCLA and University of Miami) in the country. For more information about the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation please visit www.TheBrainProject.org.

ABOUT Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury (PABI) With the causes of PABI being both traumatic (motor vehicle incidents, sports concussions, blast injury from war, child abuse) and non- traumatic (brain tumors, strokes, meningitis, epilepsy), it is the #1 cause of death and disability for children and young adults in this country with more than 3 million NEW brain injuries occurring every year (versus the combined cumulative cases of 560,000 autism in the country).

Copy of invitation: