ALS TDI President Succumbs to ALS

February 10, 2009

Sean Scott, president of the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) in Cambridge, Mass., died of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) on Feb. 9.

Sean Scott

Scott, 39, came to the ALS TDI in 2001, when ALS was diagnosed in his mother, who subsequently died of the disease.

Scott quickly assumed the management and direction of the ALS TDI's research and development program, including the Institute's pipeline software, which surveys all known therapeutics and places values on them so that resources can be allocated appropriately.

In January 2007, MDA's Augie's Quest research initiative and the ALS TDI entered into an historic $36 million collaboration.

"ALS is a hell of a disease," Scott wrote in an e-mail message to close friends and relatives composed shortly before his death. "It's both surreal and horrifying to watch as muscles fail, and with them skills that you spent a lifetime developing simply disappear. I'd trade every minute that I've got left for just one more chance to run across the tennis court and crack a forehand.

"I spent the last decade building an infrastructure to combat this disease. I had declared war on it, but in the end it got me first. At a minimum, I think I earned the right to be referred to as KIA [killed in action] and not a victim. I'd prefer that you remember me that way."

Scott is survived by his wife, Nancy Kelly.