In honor of ALS Awareness Month, the 19^thAnnual ALS Research Update on Wednesday, May 17 brings together physicians, medical professionals, ALS patients, caregivers and the larger Indiana community in an effort to educate and inform on the progress of ALS Research worldwide.

Dr. Zachary Simmons

Guest speaker Zachary Simmons, M.D. is Professor of Neurology and Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine.  He attended medical school at the University of Florida, received training in Neurology at the University of Iowa, and pursued a fellowship in neuromuscular diseases at the University of Michigan before coming to Penn State Hershey Medical Center in 1992.  He founded and directs the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Center at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, where he cares for more than 220 patients with ALS and related disorders.  Dr. Simmons has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, 160 abstracts, and 12 book chapters.  He is a member of the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee of the American Academy of Neurology.  He spent 4 years as one of two Senior Associate Editors of Muscle & Nerve, a journal devoted to reporting on research and treatment of neuromuscular diseases, and now serves as Editor-in-Chief of that journal. 

Attendees will learn and better understand the below areas at the 2017 ALS Research Update:

• Dr. Simmons will share his research and extensively writings on many aspects of ALS, particularly quality of life, optimizing multidisciplinary care, psychological well-being, ethics, telemedicine, and brain-computer interfaces. 

• Dr. Simmons is currently passionate and exploring the use of telemedicine as a way to enhance care for individuals with ALS.

• Collaboration within the ALS Community to identify treatments and research new developments.

• Questions and answer on worldwide research and clinical trials.