Thursday’s 2025 Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s MS Advocate dinner raised $570,000 to fund patient care and research for multiple sclerosis at OMRF.
OMRF President Andrew Weyrich, Ph.D., announced the total during the annual event, which was held at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. The Chickasaw Nation and the Ellis-Payne Fund served as presenting sponsors of the event, which was co-chaired by Jim and Lou Morris.
Weyrich and OMRF Board President Len Cason honored the late Frank Merrick with the MS Advocate Award during the dinner. Merrick, of Oklahoma City, served on OMRF’s Board of Directors before being named the foundation’s vice president of development in the mid-1990s. He also founded the Merrick Foundation, which has been a steadfast supporter of OMRF and particularly its MS research.
Merrick died last October. Weyrich presented the MS Advocate Award to his widow, Debbi, who said her husband loved OMRF and its mission.
Merrick’s passion for MS research was personal. His father developed MS at a time when there was no approved treatment for it. Decades later, in 2011, Merrick’s support helped establish OMRF’s Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence, which today treats more than 3,000 patients and oversees dozens of clinical trials for new MS therapies.
“When Frank set his sights on a cause that mattered to him, like MS, he often used his immense powers of persuasion to inspire others to join in that cause,” said Cason, who described Merrick as “my best buddy.”
“Frank’s lasting mark on OMRF is greater than we could ever describe,” Cason said.
MS affects nearly 1 million Americans. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the insulating layer that protects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. The resulting inflammation can cause vision issues, muscle spasms, tremors and paralysis. Periods of remission and relapse accompany the most common form of MS.
Without committed advocates like Merrick, the MS Center of Excellence wouldn’t exist, said its founding director, OMRF physician-scientist Gabriel Pardo, M.D.
“Frank was a changemaker,” Pardo said. “His influence is tangible; you can see it in the treatment progress we’ve made and in the lives that have forever been improved.”
Providing entertainment was Darci Lynne Farmer, an Oklahoma ventriloquist and singer who gained national fame at age 12 when she won “America’s Got Talent” on NBC TV in 2017.
