MDA DESIGNATES CENTER AT UW MEDICAL CENTER FOR LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE TREATMENT, RESEARCH
TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 21, 2002 – The University of Washington Medical Center has been designated as the site of a new MDA/ALS research and clinical center. The center is the 28th facility to receive the designation from the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
MDA established the comprehensive, multidisciplinary center to serve people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal muscle-wasting disease prominent in MDA’s program.
In ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, destruction of nerve cells that control voluntary muscles leads to severe muscle wasting and paralysis. Death typically results within three to five years of diagnosis, usually from respiratory complications. Approximately 30,000 Americans are affected by ALS.
The cause of ALS isn't fully understood, and no cure exists.
The new MDA/ALS center, directed by UW School of Medicine Assistant Professors Greg Carter and Michael Weiss, is in the medical center at 1959 N.E. Pacific in Seattle. Those wishing to obtain more information or to schedule appointments at the center should call MDA Health Care Service Coordinator Carole Miller at MDA’s Seattle office at (206) 283-2183.
Carter and Weiss head a team that includes physicians, a nurse coordinator, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist and a genetic counselor. The center will also feature a pulmonologist, cardiologist and gastroenterologist.
In addition to its clinical services, the team will conduct ongoing ALS research.
“We welcome this Seattle facility to our roster of MDA/ALS centers,” MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. “Under the direction of Drs. Carter and Weiss, the center will provide the best, most comprehensive care available for people with ALS, while helping advance our search for better treatments and a cure.”
One of MDA’s earliest volunteer leaders was Eleanor Gehrig, the widow of New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, whose name has become synonymous with ALS. With more than $135 million invested in the fight against ALS to date, MDA leads the worldwide scientific battle against the disease.
MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.
