I follow over 375 patients with ALS, with 100 new referrals a year, in our ALS multidisciplinary center at the University of California San Francisco. We are certified by both the MDA and the ALS association and have a full multidisciplinary team of professionals including speech pathology, dietitian, social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, nurse, and neurologist. I trained under Dr. Richard Olney and took over as director of the ALS Center in 2004 when he retired.

I am a full professor of neurology at UCSF and have significant experience in ALS clinical trials since joining the faculty after completing my neurology residency and EMG fellowship at UCSF in 1999. I was a site PI for the following ALS clinical research trials: all 3 Avanir studies, the Creatine study, the Co-Q10 study, and the Ceftriaxone study. I am a member of both NEALS and WALS, which are the major ALS clinical trial groups. In addition I have received grants from the NIH and ALS association to study ALS predictors of prognosis, ALS environmental risk factors, imaging abnormalities in PLS and ALS, efficacy of intrathecal baclofen pump treatment for PLS, and also the overlap with ALS and frontotemporal dementia.