National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Registry – Impact, Challenges, and Future Directions

Tuesday, April 18, 2017, at 1:00 p.m. ET

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressive, fatal neurological disease caused by degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers don’t know what causes ALS and there is no cure. Approximately 80 percent of persons with ALS die within 2-5 years of diagnosis.

What is known is that ALS continues to be more common in whites, males and persons between the ages of 60-69. US military veterans are disproportionately affected. For example, veterans who served in the first Gulf War were twice as likely to develop ALS as those not deployed to the Gulf War.

The National ALS Registry was created in 2010 to help scientists learns more about who gets ALS and what causes it. Persons with ALS can join the registry and complete brief surveys that help researchers understand possible risk factors for the disease, such as genetics, environmental, and occupational exposures. They also can choose to be alerted about research studies and clinical trials and have the option to contact the researchers to find out more.

Join us for this session of Public Health Grand Rounds as experts discuss the challenges for research, drug development, patient care, and the past, present and future of the national registry. Hear our panelist, Ed Tessaro, explain what it’s like to live with ALS.

CDC’s Public Health Grand Rounds Presents:

“National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Registry – Impact, Challenges, and Future Directions”

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET

Global Communications Center (Building 19)

Alexander D. Langmuir Auditorium

Roybal Campus

Presented By:

Kevin Horton DrPH, MSPHChief, Environmental Health and Surveillance Branch
Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
“Overview of the National ALS Registry – Past, Present, Future”

Paul Mehta, MDPrincipal Investigator, National ALS Registry
Environmental Health and Surveillance Branch
Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
“The Known and Unknowns about ALS”

Edward J. Kasarskis, MD, PhDProfessor of NeurologyCynthia Shaw Crispen Chair for ALS Research
University of Kentucky
“Challenges for Research, Drug Development, and Patient Care”

Ed Tessaro, BAPerson Living with ALS
“Living with ALS: a Patient’s Story”

Facilitated By:

John Iskander, MD, MPH, Scientific Director, Public Health Grand Rounds
Phoebe Thorpe, MD, MPH, Deputy Scientific Director, Public Health Grand Rounds
Susan Laird, MSN, RN, Communications Director, Public Health Grand Rounds