‘Johnnie Walkers’ Leader Bids Farewell after 30 Years of Fundraising for MS Research

After nearly four decades and more than $1 million raised to support research into multiple sclerosis (MS), Bob Gregory, ’88 MBA, is retiring his annual “Johnnie Walkers” fundraising walk in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Dozens of fellow persons living with MS, friends, and family members attended the walk each year, which since 2015 has supported research led by Mr. Gregory’s longtime friend and renowned immunologist Stephen D. Miller, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Miller has served with distinction on the medical school’s faculty for more than 40 years and is a highly regarded scientist, leader, and mentor.

Mr. Gregory built a legacy of philanthropy that has fueled numerous exciting developments in MS treatment at Northwestern and other institutions. His clever grassroots organizing, friendship with Dr. Miller, and persistence as he himself endured the symptoms of the chronic neurological disorder stand to have far-reaching benefits for the estimated one million people in the US afflicted by MS.

In 1990, while working as a Director of Marketing at Baxter Healthcare in Waukegan, Illinois, Mr. Gregory began experiencing numbness on his right side. He was diagnosed with MS, and his first neurologist was Bruce A. Cohen, MD, today the chief of MS and Neuroimmunology in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology. By 1995, Mr. Gregory’s condition had progressed aggressively, putting him in a wheelchair and forcing him to take long-term disability leave from his job.

Feeling lost, Mr. Gregory decided to participate in an annual MS walk to raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Along with family and friends, he formed a team called “The Johnnie Walkers,” inspired by the drink they were enjoying at the time. Their first effort raised $500, marking the beginning of a long and impactful fundraising journey. In 2024, the group raised $86,000.

“The objective was to fund research that will result in me and a million other people in this country getting my rear end out of this scooter,” Mr. Gregory said.

The Johnnie Walkers gathered every spring thereafter to raise funds to support MS organizations. In 2005, the walk relocated to Lincolnshire, at the home of Mr. Gregory and his wife, Pat Gregory, ’87 JD. The walkers gather early on a May morning for coffee and bagels, then set off through the neighborhood, covering about four miles. The walk concludes with a celebratory cookout.

In 2005, Mr. Gregory learned about the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), an organization dedicated to discovering myelin repair therapies. Myelin is the protective coating of the body's nerve cells, which accelerate signal transmission and enable movement. At the time, MRF aimed to assemble a team of top scientists to collaborate in the development of a myelin repair therapy and secure funding for the research. Dr. Miller was one of these scientists.

Mr. Gregory began volunteering for the MRF and shifted the focus of the Johnnie Walkers to support the foundation’s mission. He and Mrs. Gregory met Dr. Miller and his wife, Kimberley, through the foundation, and after being assigned a dinner table together at a fundraising event one pivotal evening, formed a bond that exceeded their shared Northwestern University affiliation and mutual passion for MS research.

“Turns out, we share a slightly irreverent sense of humor, don't take ourselves too seriously, and—like all good friends—love talking about our families, music, movies, and food,” Mr. Gregory said.

Dr. Miller corroborated Mr. Gregory’s telling of this fateful dinner. To this day, the couples get together at least once every few months.

“We started talking to Bob and Pat and just hit it off,” Dr. Miller said, adding that he and Mr. Gregory share an affinity for sports, especially college football and basketball.

Research Reroute

The MRF dissolved in 2015, marking another turn for the Johnnie Walkers. The group redirected their fundraising efforts to exclusively support Dr. Miller's research, which aims to use nanotechnology to induce immune system tolerance, preventing “friendly fire” on healthy cells in the body of a patient with MS and delivering myelin repair proteins to neurons. The technology has potential applications for various autoimmune diseases, including Type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and food allergies.

“This is the method that’s going to get all MS patients back on their feet,” Mr. Gregory said.

Dr. Miller’s research is nearing a critical stage, with plans to transfer knowledge to pharmaceutical companies. Major companies like Takeda and Genentech have already procured rights to his research relating to celiac disease and other autoimmune diseases, respectively.

At Northwestern, Dr. Miller is laying the groundwork for exciting clinical trials using his tolerance technology through COUR Pharmaceuticals, a company he established in 2010 with Lonnie D. Shea, PhD, a polymer chemist formerly of the McCormick School of Engineering. This next step will be made possible through close collaborations with Dr. Cohen, Roumen D. Balabanov, MD, and Brian J. Popko, PhD, of the Division of MS and Neuroimmunology in the Davee Department of Neurology.

Dr. Miller’s lab also looks to two related proxy diseases, neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD), to inform treatments for MS.

“Funding from entities like the Johnnie Walkers gives the lab freedom to try new approaches. For instance, we used a lot of the monies they raised to establish animal models of those other two diseases, NMO and MOGAD,” Dr. Miller said.

Now, his team has preclinical data from these animal models that they can leverage to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval to plan clinical trials for those diseases.

With the 30th and final Johnnie Walkers fundraiser on the horizon, on May 18, Mr. Gregory reflected on the mixed emotions of closing this chapter. Raising funds has never been easy, he said, but he has found it immensely rewarding to support a cause like Dr. Miller’s cutting-edge research that he and the fundraisers all believe in. Plus, he said, he has thoroughly enjoyed building connections with almost 200 family members and friends through the annual walks.

“The bottom line is that we feel extreme gratitude for the financial donations to MS research and, more importantly, the lifelong connections that will continue for the rest of our days,” Mr. Gregory said.

For more information about supporting multiple sclerosis research, or Dr. Miller’s other immunology research, please contact MaryPat Mauro at marypat.mauro@northwestern.edu or 312-503-1090.