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Matchmaker
Raising funds to help U-M researchers find new treatments

MatchmakerMaria Grupe is one of the many development officers working in the Health System. Grupe raises funds for the Department of Neurology.

Maria Grupe specializes in relationships—the kind of relationships that are forged when a clinician spends a heart-wrenching hour examining a patient with neurodegenerative disease.

Grupe is the Department of Neurology’s first development officer, raising research funds for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.

As one of almost 50 development officers across the Health System, for the past five and a half years Grupe has worked to build relationships with patients and other potential benefactors. The gifts she works to bring to the University—usually in the $100,000 to $2 million range—support the work of U-M physicians and medical scientists by establishing research funds and professorships.

With a background in financial services and a record of volunteer work with local nonprofits such as the Junior League of Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and the Neutral Zone teen center, Grupe found her way to fund-raising for Michigan. The amazing progress being made in neurology research these days is one reason Grupe is highly dedicated to her work.

“Philanthropy or private gifts make a big difference in a department like Neurology,” says Grupe. “They make things possible.”

“Maria brings a different perspective on how we can facilitate our research goals,” says Benjamin M. Segal, M.D., Holtom-Garrett Professor of Neurology, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic and holder of two patents for immunotherapeutic agents in MS. “She has been invaluable in finding and securing resources that allow us to pursue innovative, but potentially risky, research in multiple sclerosis, the type of research that is not generally supported by conventional funding agencies.”

One result is the Holtom-Garrett Neuroimmunology Lecture Series that brings experts from around the nation to the U-M campus.

“Working at Michigan is so meaningful,” says Grupe. “This is one of the greatest academic medical research institutions in the nation, and a lot of people are looking to us for answers.”

This energetic mother of three teenagers also makes time to run on a regular basis, lift weights, swim and downhill ski.

About her role in Neurology, she says, “We don’t yet know how or why neurons die, but if the funds we raise could contribute to finding out, how cool is that?”

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