MDA OPENS CENTER AT HAHNEMANN FOR LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE TREATMENT, RESEARCH

TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 30, 2001 - MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia has been designated as the site of a new MDA/ALS research and clinical center. The comprehensive, multidisciplinary facility has been established by the Muscular Dystrophy Association to serve people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal muscle-wasting disease prominent in MDA's program.

In ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, destruction of nerve cells that control voluntary muscles leads to severe muscle wasting and paralysis. Death typically results within three to five years of diagnosis, usually from respiratory complications. Some 30,000 Americans are affected by ALS.

The Hahnemann facility, named an MDA facility on Jan. 30, is the 22nd MDA/ALS center across the country.

The new center will operate under the direction of Dr. Terry Heiman-Patterson. She is professor of neurology and director of the university's Division of Neuromuscular Diseases.

Heiman-Patterson heads a team that offers a multidisciplinary approach to ALS treatment. The center provides people with ALS with care from physicians, a nurse coordinator, mental health specialist, social worker, nutritionist, and physical, speech and occupational therapists.

In addition to its clinical services for patients, the Hahnemann team also conducts ALS research. Its projects include clinical trials of promising drugs, and laboratory studies of potential stem cell transplant treatments and of a genetic form of ALS.

"We're pleased to add the MCP Hahnemann University facility to our roster of MDA/ALS centers," said Robert Ross, MDA senior vice president and executive director. "Under Dr. Heiman-Patterson's direction, the center will provide the best, most comprehensive care available for people with this disorder, while helping advance our search for cures and treatments."

The Hahnemann center is the first MDA/ALS center in Pennsylvania. Other centers are located at major institutions in Atlanta, Baltimore and Boston; Charlotte and Durham, N.C.; Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Madison, Wis.; Miami and New Haven, Conn.; New York, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, St. Louis and Syracuse, N.Y.

With an ALS program more than three times larger than the combined programs of all other ALS agencies, MDA leads the worldwide scientific battle to find treatments and cures for ALS. The Association has invested nearly $100 million fighting this relentless disease.

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. The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.