Johns Hopkins Physician/Scientist Receives MDA Award
For Lou Gehrig's Disease Research

TUCSON, Ariz., April 4, 2002 — Jeffrey Rothstein, co-director of the MDA/ALS Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has received a $324,000 gift from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to continue his work in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease).

The restricted gift to Rothstein, professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins, will be used to advance MDA's ALS research program at the ALS center.

The funds were part of the proceeds from the Nov. 8 Wings of Hope dinner held at Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York to raise funds for MDA's ALS Division programs. The event was led by Michael Beier of New York, director of Equity Trading for Credit Suisse First Boston, and Toni Diamond of Southwick, Mass., both of whom have ALS. Beier is an MDA vice president.

ALS, one of more than 40 neuromuscular disorders in MDA's program, destroys motor neurons (nerve cells controlling muscles) in healthy adults and leads to complete paralysis. Survival is typically two to five years after diagnosis. In more than 90 percent of cases, the cause isn't understood. No cure exists.

MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education. In addition to the MDA/ALS Center at Johns Hopkins University, MDA maintains a clinic at Maryland General Hospital.

MDA is the largest non-governmental agency supporting ALS research and services. The MDA/ALS Center at Johns Hopkins offers diagnostic services and comprehensive follow-up rehabilitative care. Rothstein has directed the program since 1997. Over the past decade MDA has awarded Rothstein nearly $2 million to conduct research primarily directed at ALS.

MDA anticipates that Wings of Hope will be held annually. This year's event raised some $750,000. Rothstein was one of two beneficiaries. The other was MDA/ALS clinic director and researcher Hiroshi Mitsumoto at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.