2011 - National Alopecia Areata Foundation

Dear Friends,
Take a trip back in time with us. The year is 1981. Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the nation’s 40th president. Indiana Jones first cracks his whip in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“Bette Davis Eyes” rules the airwaves, at least until the arrival that summer of a small cable channel called MTV. The Dodgers beat the Yankees in six games to clinch the World
Series. And a rare autoimmune disease that has afflicted men and women, children and adults since the beginning of recorded time at last meets its equal in the founding of
an organization called the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF).
It may sound strange now but in 1981 we barely knew how to spell alopecia areata, let alone treat it. What we did know was that this was an unusually tenacious disease, and as
such it would require an unusually tenacious organization, led and staffed by unusually tenacious people, to combat it. Researchers, board members, support counselors, staff—
everyone affiliated with NAAF—would have to be uncommonly committed to supporting the people who suffer from alopecia areata, raising the awareness of their families and
friends, and eradicating the disease itself.
While alopecia areata has plagued sufferers for several millennia, in just the past three decades NAAF has made bold strides in genetic and dermatological research barely
imaginable in 1981. And NAAF will continue to do so until the causes of this disease are discovered, the people who are susceptible are protected, and alopecia areata is finally
defeated. In 2011, our Treatment Development Program scored an almost dizzying amount of accomplishments—such as funding an alopecia areata autoantibody study at the
University of Colorado, leveraging resources for a new alopecia areata biomarker study at Columbia University, and officially contracting with MD Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston, Texas, to take over the responsibility for funding the National Alopecia Areata Registry.
Until alopecia areata is a thing of the past, our efforts remain unabated. Our peerless support network continues to make real differences in the lives of both individuals and their
families. We are finding new ways to raise awareness, most recently through successful events with Major League Baseball teams. New media allows us to spread news, support,
and hope through Facebook and Twitter in addition to more traditional venues like our website, informational materials, DVDs, electronic and print newsletters, the Ascot Fund
and the Alopecia Areata Marketplace.
In 2011, we saw the cumulative effect, the real progress, stemming from thirty years of persistent effort. Today NAAF renews its pledge to provide all of its energy, resources and
guidance to our community; we hope you know we will always advocate, always research, always fight beside you and with you on behalf of people with alopecia areata. NAAF
and its members stand more united than ever in a common purpose staked by three decades of research, support and awareness.
One can only imagine what the future years will bring. . . .
Brian Ter Haar
Chair, Board of Directors, 2012
Vicki Kalabokes
President and Chief Executive Officer
The nation’s leading nonprofit watchdog group, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, has found that NAAF operates with the utmost integrity, transparency, and accountability.
NAAF is proud to be one of the very few nonprofits (out of the almost 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States) that meet these strict standards. In addition, NAAF
meets all 44 of the standards required for membership in the National Health Council.
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