Events
ALS Research Symposium
October 5 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
- This event has passed.
Join us to learn about the latest in ALS research, with live presentations from local and nationally esteemed ALS researchers and clinicians.
The ALS Research Symposium is a completely FREE community event, and you don’t need to be an ALS expert to take advantage of this annual opportunity to meet and hear from world-renowned researchers. Anyone who wants to learn more about ALS and ALS research is welcome to join either in-person or via the livestream.
About the speakers:
Dr. Nicholas Olney is the Clinical Director of the Providence ALS Center in Portland, OR. Dr. Olney received his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco, completing his neurology residency at the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his residency, Dr. Olney returned to UCSF to focus on neurodegenerative disease and research, prior to joining the Providence ALS Center here in Portland. Dr. Olney has a unique perspective into his work with ALS patients, having been a primary caregiver for his own father who lived with ALS.
Matthew Harms, MD is an Associate Professor of Neurology specializing in neuromuscular medicine and genetics. He trained at UCSF and Washington University in St. Louis, where his research identified genes responsible for several neuromuscular diseases. Now at Columbia, Dr. Harms leads efforts using genomic technologies to advance precision medicine for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Dr. Joe Beckman recently retired as Professor of Biochemistry at Oregon State University. For nearly 50 years Dr. Beckman has studied a protein called superoxide dismutase (SOD1) and its role in defending the body from free radicals. In 1993, scientists discovered that mutations in the SOD1 gene were present in 2-5% of patients with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Dr. Beckman will speak to how in the last ten years, improvements in scientific tools reveal new clues to reinvigorate a cold case of what killed Lou Gehrig.
Dr. Paul Mehta is the Principal Investigator for the United States Congressionally-mandated National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Registry which resides within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR) and is responsible for providing medical, scientific, and epidemiological expertise on matters related to ALS. Dr. Mehta has been in this role for over 10 years.
Jaime Raymond, MPH has been with the CDC since 2001, spending the last 8 years working on the National ALS Registry at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). She collaborates with CMS, VA, and ALS web portal data to estimate the prevalence and incidence of ALS annually and analyzes survey data to explore potential ALS risk factors. Jaime has co-authored over 20 publications on topics including clinical onset, menopause, and juvenile ALS. Prior to this role, she spent 15 years in the CDC’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch. She holds an MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University and a BS in Mathematics from Indiana University.