AXA rallies its customers and employees to support medical research

The AXA Research Fund has provided its expertise to a unique initative in the AXA Group. Indeed, since 2014, AXA Banque Patrimoniale (AXABP) sollicits its employees input in the choice of an area of medical research that they believe is important to support. AXABP customers as well as employees commit to donate funds for the research. These funds  are matched by the company and complemented by AXA Research Fund financial and operational support :  the AXA Research Fund manages the call for applications and supports the evaluation and selection process.

As a result of this initiative, in 2017, Dr. Stéphane Bancelin (Université de Bordeaux) benefited from € 130,000 to carry out a research project aiming to better understand how the brain functions during memorization. Ultimately, he hopes to better treat dysfunctions, particularly in the case of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

In 2018, Dr. Luc Dupuis (INSERM) received the support of AXA. Dr. Dupuis aims at better understanding amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – better known as Lou Gehrig’s or Charcot’s disease -  to better fight it. He is particularly interested in the role of the hypothalamus in the process of weight loss in people with the disease. By stopping the phenomenon of weight loss, he hopes to extend patient life while improving their condition. A 200,000 € support has been provided for this research.

In 2019, the area of support chosen by AXA Banque employees was "rare childhood diseases". Dr. Stéphanie Baulac, Research Director at Ecole des Neurosciences, was been selected by the AXA Research Fund and the AXA Banque Patrimoniale earlier this year. Dr. Stéphanie Baulac works on rare forms of epilepsy in children.

This philanthropic initiative has created a strong momentum within AXA Banque Patrimoniale, at both customer and employee engagement levels, and provides areas that are less funded with support to further advance research.