About the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins

The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins is the only international scientific operation dedicated solely to curing the disease. We are unique in our approach to fighting ALS, a motor neuron disease also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, in that we combine and facilitate scientific collaboration and ALS research with fundraising for the development of new treatments and to finding a cure.

We're Dedicated To Research

We don't see patients, and we're not a clinic, though we often partner in clinical research with one of this country's largest ALS patient services: the Johns Hopkins Multidisciplinary ALS Clinic.

We're Focused On Therapies

The Packard Center aggressively pursues its ALS research mission. Academic medical research is sometimes applauded for how well it explains biology rather than how well it translates to the clinic. All of the Center's work, however, focuses wholly on finding treatments to slow or cure ALS.

We're Committed To Collaboration

The Packard Center brings ALS scientists from all over the world together to combine forces in ALS research. Each month, brainstorming sessions identify promising research approaches and evaluate progress. Packard grantees, their post-docs and laboratory staff, our scientific advisors, collaborating clinicians and a bare-bones administrative staff work together in this dedicated network. We also partner with other ALS nonprofits to give our researchers the most support we can. Our eyes and our fundraising dollars are on the cure.

We're Funding Performance-Driven ALS Research

The Center's directors set short-term goals as well as long-range ones and keep a close watch on them. A Scientific Advisory Board of top ALS international scientists evaluates investigators' work annually to keep it on track. We take our search for a cure seriously and use our funding wisely; if a research path turns unproductive, support stops.

We're Streamlining Funding for Researchers

Efficiency is one of the Packard Center's watchwords. We recruit only ALS scientists of recognized merit. And we minimize the lengthy grant process typical of academic medicine to get them to the lab bench quickly when it comes to ALS research.