Actor Michael J. Fox turned a life-changing diagnosis into a long-term mission to accelerate Parkinson’s research. In 2000, he established The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, nearly a decade after he was diagnosed with the disease.Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the age of 29. He initially kept the diagnosis private and publicly revealed that he was living with Parkinson’s in 1998. Two years later, he founded the organisation with the aim of accelerating scientific progress towards better treatments and, ultimately, a cure.More than two and a half decades later, the foundation has grown into the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s research. According to the organisation, it has funded more than $3 billion in research globally since its inception in 2000.The foundation says its work focuses on accelerating the development of treatments by funding research, bringing together scientists, industry and patients, and supporting initiatives that can move discoveries from laboratories towards clinical applications.One of its major research initiatives is the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), a global study designed to better understand the biology of Parkinson’s and identify markers that could help researchers develop and test treatments. The foundation says the initiative has contributed to scientific advances in understanding the disease.The organisation has also pointed to progress in Parkinson’s treatment over the years. In a September 2026 update, it said its research efforts had contributed to a pipeline that includes 175 therapies in clinical testing and noted that 23 new drugs had been approved over the past decade. These figures describe developments across the broader Parkinson’s research ecosystem and are not claims that all of the drugs were developed solely by the foundation.Fox’s advocacy has extended beyond funding research. In 1999, before establishing the foundation, he testified before the US Congress in support of greater federal investment in Parkinson’s research. The foundation later supported advocacy efforts around the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act, which became law in July 2024.In September 2026, Fox was also named the recipient of the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award for his contributions to advancing Parkinson’s research and raising awareness about the disease. The award recognised his work in advocacy, philanthropy and research mobilisation.From a diagnosis he received at just 29 to a foundation that has now directed more than $3 billion towards Parkinson’s research, Fox’s journey has become closely associated with efforts to accelerate scientific progress against the disease.
