Our Crowdfunding Groups
This holiday season, please consider supporting the UCLA Neuromuscular Research fund to make a meaningful impact on ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) research at UCLA. We hope to help improve UCLA's efforts to find a cure for ALS, and enable them to continue to provide support and resources to patients dealing with this diagnosis.
HOW PHILANTHROPY HELPS
Philanthropic support will enable the UCLA ALS Clinic and Research Center to continue advancing their vital studies to better understand ALS and find more effective treatments.
The UCLA Neurology ALS Clinic and Research Center offers multidisciplinary services, including those provided by a social worker and respiratory therapist who performs breathing evaluations; offers specialized breathing management; and gives instructions on therapeutic measures, such as assistive coughing and breathing exercises, suctioning, and ventilation. This vital function has been expanded in the past year by adding pulmonologist Kevin Eng, M.D., to the team. Dr. Eng provides expert knowledge in noninvasive and invasive ventilation for patients. The clinic also recently began a clinical study to identify biomarkers for ALS that will be extremely useful in measuring the success of clinical trial medications.
ABOUT THE UCLA NEUROLOGY ALS CLINIC AND RESEARCH CENTER
The mission of the UCLA Neurology ALS Clinic and Research Center, under the direction of Martina Wiedau, M.D., Professor of Neurology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is to conduct basic science research and develop and test promising therapeutics targeting ALS to improve the quality of life for the center’s patients. We offer continuous care for patients with ALS, as well as consultation, referral and educational services to community physicians, nurses, caregivers and their patients who have ALS. We provide comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, disease management, neuro-rehabilitation, speech, swallowing and occupational therapies, and specialized medical service referrals. We work closely with lay organizations, healthcare professionals and individual citizens dedicated to the treatment and cure of ALS. The ALS Clinic and Research Center is continuously engaged in clinical trials to test the effectiveness of potentially new treatments. It is through these activities and the work of many healthcare professionals that we hope to improve the lives of our ALS patients.
In addition to Dr. Wiedau, the ALS team includes Payam Soltanzadeh, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of Neurology and neuromuscular specialist, and Cara Siegel, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of palliative care medicine. Michael Graves, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Neurology, continues his care of patients on a part-time basis at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. The weekly ALS Clinic remains one of the largest in the United States and treats nearly 200 new patients every year.
If you do not wish to receive further fundraising information from UCLA Health Sciences, please either call us at (855) 364-6945 or email us at hsd_optoutucla@mednet.ucla.edu providing your name, address, phone number, email, and from which department you're requesting to be removed. Gifts are managed and invested in accordance with UCLA’s endowment investment policies. The total return earned in excess of the amount approved annually for payout will be retained in the endowment principal to protect from the effects of inflation and to allow for growth. At the discretion of the appropriate campus office, when the payout is not needed for purposes of the fund, the return of payout may be added to the endowment fund principal. In the event the fund does not reach endowment minimum; or the program ceases to exist at UCLA, proceeds from the fund will be utilized in an area and manner as closely related as possible to the original intent and purposes for which the fund was established. Although the Endowment is intended to exist in perpetuity, unforeseen circumstances may alter or remove the subject area from the campus academic plan or it may become impossible, impracticable or wasteful to administer. In such an event, the Chancellor is authorized to redesignate the purpose of the Endowment, after taking into consideration the designated endowment purpose. Please review UCLA and The UCLA Foundation’s Disclosure Statements for Prospective Donors and to learn more about how The UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments at www.uclafoundation.org/disclosures.