About Us

Message from the Director

Welcome to the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center

The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center at Columbia University was founded in 1987 by Lewis (Bud) Rowland, MD, to address the complex needs of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease—and other motor neuron diseases. 

Named in honor of the famed Yankee—who played baseball as an undergraduate at Columbia College—and his wife Eleanor, our center provides comprehensive care, education, and support for patients and families living with ALS.  The center also includes an integrated research program that involves clinicians and scientists from many disciplines throughout our great university who are leading the research effort to develop new treatments, and ultimately a cure, for ALS. 

Our website was designed as a resource for ALS patients and for those who provide the care and support they need to meet the many challenges posed by the disease through its course. We hope that this site will help you to understand more about ALS and give you a sense of how we manage the care of patients living with ALS today, and address the concerns of ALS family members at risk.

We hope too that this site will make clear the many opportunities we offer to participate in clinical trials of promising therapeutics and other research studies focused on identifying new targets and strategies to treat ALS. We know these studies provide encouragement and hope for our patients and their families, and we will use these pages to report on our progress and to invite you to join us in the fight.

Director , Columbia ALS Center - Dr. Neil Shneider

 

 

Neil Shneider, MD, PhD 
Director
 
Claire Tow Associate Professor of Motor Neuron Disorders