Michael Benatar is a professor of neurology; the Walter Bradley Chair in ALS Research; Executive Director of the ALS Center; Chief of Neuromuscular Division; and Vice Chair for Clinical & Translational Research in the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami. His clinical/translational research program is focused on biomarker and therapy development for ALS, with a particular focus on pre-symptomatic ALS and disease prevention. He leads the Pre-Symptomatic Familial ALS (Pre-fALS) study, which he initiated in 2007, and the CReATe Consortium, a ~35-center network focused on therapy development for ALS and related disorders. Dr. Benatar is best known for his pioneering work in defining the field of pre-symptomatic ALS, including discovery of the first biomarker of pre-symptomatic disease that has been critical to the design and initiation of the first pre-symptomatic ALS trial. He has also been a thought-leader in challenging existing paradigms for pre-clinical therapeutic studies; shaping how we conceptualize and use biomarkers for therapy development; and championing the use of enrichment strategies in ALS trial design.

Contributions:

Dr. Benatar will contribute expertise and expertise from ~15 years of studying pre-symptomatic ALS, and also provide biological samples and accompanying deep phenotypic data from the Pre-fALS study to advance the goals of identifying a clinico-molecular fingerprint of early ALS.