Given the high requirements to enter the field, and a likely mismatch of interests between many of the patients and the interests required, it would probably be

Given the high requirements to enter the field, and a likely mismatch of interests between many of the patients and the interests required, it would probably be more effective to try to fund some researcher directly. Identify someone doing high-quality research in an adjacent area and offer a direct grant of $50k or something to research towards a cure.