The Alex Manfull Fund

08/29/2026

Thank you, PANDAS Physicians Network , for your support and promotion of TAMF’s upcoming Symposium on PANDAS and PANS. We are so excited to welcome physicians and other clinicians to our 4th in-person conference!

Called “One Body” because the human body is a highly integrated set of systems, we recognize that the deleterious effects of Immune-Mediated Neuropsychiatric Disorders such as PANDAS & PANS often extend beyond psychiatry and Neurology to seriously affect other systems of the body.

Brain and physical health are increasingly viewed as deeply intertwined.

This symposium is for physicians and clinicians. Please share with your team.

Clinicians & researchers: Register for The Alex Manfull Fund Symposium on Nov 14 in Portsmouth, NH. This event brings together leading experts to explore the research & clinical advances in PANS/PANDAS & other immune-mediated neuropsychiatric disorders. https://thealexmanfullfund.org/the-alex-manfull-fund-2026-pans-pandas-symposium/

08/24/2026

THIS is a real page turner….page scroller. Everyone should read it.

A scientific and civilizational horror story.

08/22/2026

Dr. John Gaitanis goes to Washington.

Dr. Gaitanis, a pediatric neurologist passionately dedicated to the understanding of PANS/PANDAS, Autism, and Epilepsy, will sit at the helm of NIH’s most important institute dedicated to children’s health.

What a brilliant choice!!

According to the NIH page on the Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the mission of this institute is to “lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all.”

Dr Gaitanis serves on the board of the Medical Academy of Pediatrics and Special Needs (MAPS) and is on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of The Alex Manfull Fund and regularly contributes his expertise to TAMF’s researcher brunch round table discussions and symposia. (See comment below.)

Congratulations Dr Gaitanis!!!

Dr. Gaitanis is set to begin his role on August 23, 2026.

08/16/2026

Journalist Jessica Slice Talks about her Article on PANS/PANDAS in New York Magazine” on The Alex Manfull Fund podcast, “Untangling PANDAS & PANS.”

Tune in to hear some of the backstory to Jessica’s outstanding essay.

Link to podcast: https://thealexmanfullfund.org/tamf-podcast-untangling-pandas-pans/
or find it wherever you get your favorite podcasts!

08/16/2026

Alex’s bench, in the southeast corner of Central Park, has had some visitors in recent days.

Mira, from New England, wrote, “It was cathartic sitting on [Alex’s] bench. Such a strong mix of emotions but Alex brings me comfort.”

Pierre and Martin are visiting from Lyon, France and had just left our house.

We are so grateful to Alex’s friends and colleagues who made arrangements for this bench back in 2018.

No more lives lost and no more years lost to the horror of infection-associated neuroimmune disorders such as PANDAS and PANS..

Visit The Alex Manfull Fund website to learn more: www.TheAlexManfullFund.org.

08/16/2026

Up early to interview my next guest on The Alex Manfull Fund podcast, Untangling PANDAS & PANS. And up late doing edits so it can drop tomorrow, Sunday, August 16th.

Can you make out who my guest is? Hint: we will be talking about the PANS/PANDAS article recently featured in New York Magazine.

Watch for the newest episode on Sunday at https://thealexmanfullfund.org/tamf-podcast-untangling-pandas-pans/ or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

08/13/2026

📢 If you are looking for something fun to do AND a way to contribute to The Alex Manfull Fund….

08/13/2026

Friends, we have some very welcome news to share! PANS & PANDAS take the national stage today with the publication of a groundbreaking feature story in the online version of New York Magazine (called The Cut) by renowned author and PANS mom, Jessica Slice!

Jessica’s piece brings much-needed visibility to the gap between research and clinical practice while exposing the avoidable human cost of delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment.

The Alex Manfull Fund and the Look.Foundation are thrilled to support Jessica in this effort and will continue this important dialogue as partners in an exciting upcoming special series. Stay tuned for more details!!




Kayla Caulfield Angie Gentile Daniela Sosa-Sarkar Paul J. Murphy Sheilah McCarthy Gauch Cathy Cunningham Witkos Jennifer McCormack Vitelli Karen Buettner Soorikian

My child caught a cold and then lost her ability to function. The fight to access treatment for her illness, called PANS, has overtaken our lives.

08/13/2026

You captured the importance of this research so well. A must read!

A milestone worth pausing on.

With this outstanding achievement, Dr. Agalliu and his team have delivered the strongest mechanistic evidence to date for the "infection → immune signaling → BBB dysfunction → neuropsychiatric symptoms" pathway that PANDAS parents, advocates, and healthcare allies have argued for since 1998.

Dr. Agalliu and Dr. Uğur Akcan have shared in their personal LinkedIn posts celebrating the official publication of this work that this paper took THREE YEARS to move through review and revision before it could be published.

That gap between scientific rigor and a family's lived urgency is one of the hardest parts of this fight. Your child doesn't get to wait for peer review, and it's okay to feel the weight of that.

But this is why milestones like this one matter so much. It's not just a paper — it's three years of researchers who kept showing up for our community, even through real threats to their own funding along the way.

Our community of patients, parents, extended family, advocates, donors, and those care providers who choose to listen and choose to be curious helps create the conditions for this kind of science to happen. Its up to all of us to continue contributing to that work however we are able.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-76232-w