Why I’m riding

Very early in my career, I found that caring for patients with ALS was incredibly
rewarding, and it was clear that there were huge needs for improving care and
developing therapies for people with this disease. While in Boston, I started a
multidisciplinary ALS Clinic at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, became involved in
clinical trials, and developed an interest in clinical trial design and development of new
outcome measures that could improve the way therapies for ALS were evaluated. Merit
Cudkowicz, Robert Brown, Ted Munsat, myself and others realized that there was a
need to create a venue for committed academic investigators to bring potential new
therapies to clinical investigation. This was the stimulus that led to the creation in 1996
of the New England ALS Clinical Trials Consortium, or NEALS. In the 30 years since
then, NEALS has changed names twice, and is now the Network of Excellence for ALS
(still NEALS). We have more than 150 member institutions, have performed many
clinical trials, and have embraced a training mission to include people with ALS, their
families, clinical investigators, and all those who participate in conducting ALS trials.
To celebrate these 30 years, we are biking from Pittsburgh to Washington DC, raising
money for NEALS activities, raising awareness of the ongoing needs of people with
ALS, and having fun along the way. I hope you will consider supporting my ride with a
donation to NEALS. It is a great cause.