ALS Association Awards Almost $756K to 5 Projects Aiming to Improve Clinical Care

The ALS Association announced that it has awarded a total of $755,855 in financial grants supporting new clinical management projects to address unmet needs in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) care.

For this grant program, the ALS Association defined areas of priority research and invited experts to submit their proposals, according to a press release. A new ALS Association-initiated award for a project to streamline data collection at ALS clinics, which received $100,000 in funding, went to:

• Robert Miller, MD, from Sutter West Bay Hospitals, ALS Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research Center in San Francisco. Dr. Miller will establish uniform methods of data collection at ALS centers using Epic software for electronic health record and documentation, a project that will run for an estimated nine months.

Four other research projects received TREAT ALS Clinical Management Grants, whose aim is to improve care of ALS patients with a focus on the social, psychological, and clinical management of the disease. Recipients of these newly funded grants are:

• Zachary Simmons, MD and Andrew Geronimo, PhD, from The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, in Hershey. They will study new opportunities for patients with brain-computer interface communication over two years, supported by a $197,551 award;
• Clifton Gooch, MD, from the University of South Florida, in Tampa, and Emily Plowman, PhD, from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, who will analyze the impact of combined inspiratory/expiratory respiratory training in ALS over two years, funded with a $200,000 award;
• Stephen Selkirk, MD, PhD, and Broderick Flynn, RN, from the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, in Ohio, will test the use of Telehealth technologies to manage ALS patients over two years, supported by a $58,320 award;
• Orla Hardiman, MD, and Niall Pender, PhD, from Trinity College and Beaumont Hospital, in Dublin; Miriam Galvin, PhD, from Dublin City University; and Tom Burke, from Trinity College, in Dublin, will work to define and address the complex needs of ALS caregivers, supported by a two-year $199,984 award.

The ALS Association is currently looking at new proposals for its investigator-initiated awards and for the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Award. More information about these awards are available through the association’s website.

The ALS Association is a national and nonprofit organization that aims to be a leader in disease research, provide assistance to ALS patients, and coordinate multidisciplinary care through certified clinical centers and government partnerships.