The Association of Migraine Disorders is devoted to accelerating the most promising area of neuroscience research: migraine.
AMD’s Migraine Research Initiative is led by AMD’s research committee consisting of brilliant, leading researchers who help identify knowledge gaps in migraine to influence future research projects. AMD provides funding for innovative research projects through its grant program. Finally, AMD strives to form an inter-institutional and multi-disciplinary network of migraine researchers and medical professionals through its resource hub and communication platform, the Migraine Science Collaborative.
Migraine Science Collaborative
The Migraine Science Collaborative is an international resource hub and communication platform designed to facilitate inter-institutional and multi-disciplinary networking for researchers and medical professionals.
The MSC has a goal of accelerating research advances in migraine, cluster and headache diseases.
The MSC platform includes discussion forums, a resource library, an events page, grant opportunities and a mentor program.
WHO SHOULD BE A MEMBER: Primarily students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, researchers, scientists and clinicians with any interest in migraine or other complementary disciplines. We also welcome pharmaceutical medical liaisons, medical writers and educators.
Your participation in MSC will build a broader and stronger collaboration between all of these currently independent fields and help us advance migraine research for better treatments and cure.
We welcome scientists at all stages of their careers to become members. It is easy and free of charge. Simply visit the MSC homepage and submit your request for membership.
AMD’s Migraine Research Initiative is led by AMD’s research committee consisting of brilliant, leading researchers who help identify knowledge gaps in migraine to influence future research projects. AMD provides funding for innovative research projects through its grant program. Finally, AMD strives to form an inter-institutional and multi-disciplinary network of migraine researchers and medical professionals through its resource hub and communication platform, the Migraine Science Collaborative.
Research Advisory Committee
KC Brennan, MD, PhD
University of Utah
Basic mechanisms of migraine and post-traumatic headache
Larry Charleston IV, MD, MSc
University of Michigan
Headache Disorders
Paul Durham, PhD
Missouri State University
Cellular and molecular mechanisms, epigenetics
Gregory Dussor, PhD
University of Texas at Dallas
Pathological mechanisms and therapeutic targets for migraine headache.
Georgia Hodes, PhD
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Sex differences in the peripheral and central immune system
Felicia Jefferson, PhD
Fort Valley State University
Sleep science and minority research career development
Shivang Joshi, MD, MPH, RPh
DENT Neurologic Institute
Research Focus: Headache disorders
Deena Kuruvilla, MD
Yale School of Medicine
Research Focus: Headache disorders
Dan Levy, PhD
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre & Harvard Medical School
Research Focus: Intracranial meninges and its trigeminal sensory innervation
Nasim Maleki, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Research Focus: Sex-related contributions to migraine disease
Angela O'Neal, MD
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Research Focus: Women’s neurology
Jelena Pavlović, MD, PhD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Research Focus: Hormonal regulation of migraine
Amynah Pradhan, PhD
University of Illinois
Research Focus: Translationally significant animal models of headache
William Renthal, MD, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School
Research Focus: Human genetics related to migraine pathophysiology
Carl Saab, PhD
Cleveland Clinic
Research Focus: Translational research in chronic pain
Stephen Silberstein, MD, FACP, FAAN, FAHS
Thomas Jefferson University
Research Focus: Headache disorders
Gretchen Tietjen, MD
University of Toledo
Research Focus: Migraine, stroke, early life stress, vascular biology
Grant Program
We believe our grant programs create a consistent effort to support the early careers of researchers with an interest in migraine disease. Our nonprofit organization resembles the role of venture capital organizations that nurture start-up companies.
AMD has developed a comprehensive program that helps not only to fund specific research projects, but also to launch the careers of those willing to specialize in migraine research. We offer programs to introduce students into this area of neuroscience, through shadowing programs, travel grants, small introductory grants and then support more experienced researchers to explore new ideas with intermediate-sized grants, managed by the Migraine Research Foundation.
Our expectation is that the best of these ideas will be ready to apply to much larger grants, such as those offered by NIH. The most unique aspect of our program is our support of interdisciplinary migraine-related research at the Brown Institute for Brain Science and the funding of a post-doctoral fellowship in migraine research.
Incubator Grants
The Migraine Research Foundation (MRF) and the Association of Migraine Disorders (AMD) announce the opening of a joint Request for Proposals for migraine research grants. The application deadline is at the end of July each year.
MRF is committed to discovering the causes, improving the treatments, and finding a cure, and AMD stimulates increased research in the area of migraine disorders.
We seek projects that will help sufferers by advancing our ability to understand and treat migraine. As a result, we offer seed-money grants for projects that are important, achievable, and innovative that will ultimately lead to better treatment and quality of life for sufferers of migraine and migraine disorders.
While we welcome all proposals relevant to basic or clinical migraine research, we are particularly interested in translational projects and those related to migraine variants, the relationship between concussions and migraines, post-traumatic headaches and migraine, hormonal effects on the nervous system, effects of nutrition on migraine, and other migraine variants, such as vestibular migraine and sinus migraine. Projects should take an original approach to the subject and have the potential to move the field forward in a significant way.
Please be advised that due to the large number of grant requests we receive, applications must follow the required format and conform to the guidelines to be considered.
Grants awarded to:
- 2016-17 Lyn Griffiths, Ph.D.
- 2017-18 Suzanne Bertisch, MD
- 2018-19 Patricia Pozo-Rosich, Ph.D.
The Carney Institute for Brain Science Post Doctoral Research Position
This unique program funds an opportunity for a graduate student to launch their career in migraine research at the Brown Institute for Brain Science.
- First recipient: Tyler Clark Brown, PhD
- Second recipient: Bruno Pradier, PhD
Resident Research Grant
The program offers one-year grants to any otolaryngology residents conducting a research project that is related to improving our understanding of migraine variants. The Resident Research Grants are available at any time.
We are using CORE to administer our Resident Research Grants. You can follow this link to see more info and to apply for a grant.
Research Funded By AMD
2020
CORE Grant – $10,000
- Project: Clinical Utility of Multifrequency VEMP in Vestibular Migraine Diagnosis
- Principal Investigator: Janet Choi, USC
2019
MRF Grant – $48,000
- Project: Genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA and nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes in familial migraine with aura
- Principal Investigator: Lyn Griffiths Ph.D., Queensland University of Technology
CORE Grant – $10,000
- Project: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for the Treatment of Vestibular Migraine
- Principal Investigator: Eric Formeister, UC SF
2017
MRF Grant – $50,000
- Project: Shedding Light on Migraine: Exploring Novel Light Metrics as a Trigger of Migraine
- Principal Investigator: Suzanne Bertisch, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to Brigham & Women’s Hospital
- UPDATE: Completed in 2020 https://migraineresearchfoundation.org/researchers/suzanne-bertisch/
CORE Grant – $5,500
- Project: Randomized clinical trial of nortriptyline in treatment of vestibular migraine
- Principal Investigator: Hossein Mahboubi, UC Irvine
- UPDATE: Research ended due to lack of participants
2016
MRF Grant – $50,000
- Project: Microglial proliferation in women with menstrual migraines
- Principal Investigator: Clas Linnman, Boston Children’s Hospital
2015
MRF Grant – $50,000
- Project: microMIG: searching for new biomarkers in migraine using microRNA expression profile analysis
- Principal Investigator: Patricia Vall, Pozo-Rosich, d’Hebron University Hospital
2014
Direct Grant – $190,000
- Project: Patterns of Migraine Disease in Otolaryngology: A CHEER Network Study
- Principal Investigator: David Witsell, MD, MHS, Duke University
MRF Grant – $50,000
- Project: Gastroparesis in Monogenic Migraine Mouse Models
- Principal Investigator: Robert Shapiro, UVM
MRF Grant – $50,000
- Project: Use of Next Generation Sequencing Technology to Identify Novel Hemiplegic Migraine and Migraine Related Mutations.
- Principal Investigator: Lyn Griffiths Ph.D., Queensland University of Technology
Direct Grant – $50,000
- Project: The Role of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors in Migraine
- Principal Investigator: Maggie Waung, University of California San Francisco
Direct Grant – $50,000
- Project: A prospective randomized cross-over trial of nortriptyline and topiramate in the initial treatment of vestibular migraine
- Principal Investigator: Anthony Mikulec, MD, Saint Louis University