Chairperson

ALS and non-dementing degenerative disorders

The EFNS Scientist Panel on ALS (and non-dementing degenerative disorders) has been reconstituted in collaboration with the European ALS/MND Group. The Chair of the ALS/MND Group (currently Prof. Albert Ludolph) also chairs this EFNS Scientist Panel. The European ALS/MND Group tries to broaden its base by the inclusion of representatives from all countries affiliated to the EFNS while at the same time retaining and strengthening its existing and effective partnerships.

The European ALS/MND Group (EALSC) is a democratic organisation that has encouraged a number of collaborative projects throughout Europe. These have included surveys of the provision of care, workshops on clinical trials and non-invasive ventilation (sponsored by the European Neuromuscular Centre in Naarden), guidelines for preclinical animal studies, studies in nutrition, and databases. The consortium is planning investigator-led clinical trials. 

After the merger with the EFNS Scientist Panel, the broader group finds its responsibilities complementing those of the EALSC. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of ALS/MND were developed and published by a multinational group led by Prof. Peter Andersen (Umea, Sweden); they are currently being renewed and the update process will be finished in July 2009. The EALSC holds an annual meeting in parallel with the International Symposium on ALS/MND and this year will meet in Berlin in the afternoon of Monday the 7th of December 2009. Also, it organizes its yearly meeting which is preferentially designed to meet the needs of young investigators. Travel grants are available for young colleagues from Eastern Europe on request. This years meeting (7th meeting of the European ALS/MND group) was successfully organized by Prof. Adriano Chio in Torino, Italy (22nd-24th of May, 2009). The next meeting will be held in May 2010 in London, U.K. and will be organized by Prof. Ammar Al Chalabi. If you are interested please do come to this meeting.

More information can be obtained by Prof. Ammar Al Chalabi, London, Email: ammar@iop.kcl.ac.uk or Prof. Albert Ludolph, Email: albert.ludolph@rku.de 

In 2011, the yearly meeting will take place in Hannover, Germany and will be organized by Prof. Reinhard Dengler. 

Currently the EALSC is chaired by Professor Albert Ludolph (Ulm, Germany) with Professor Leonard van den Berg (Utrecht) as Co-Chair and Deputy Chair. Professor John Wokke (Utrecht) is Treasurer of the group. The EALSC operates with a small executive committee, the responsibility of which is to drive decisions taken by the membership.  

The EALSC has its own website. If you want further information, please contact Albert Ludolph (albert.ludolph@rku.de) and do come to the meetings in Berlin and London ! The Chair and Deputy Chair of the EALSC are Chair and Deputy Chair of the EFNS Scientist Panel of ALS and non-dementing degenerative disorders. We, Albert Ludolph and Leonard van den Berg intend to make this an extremely exciting and active scientist panel and push forward the collaborations and projects which our membership has charged us with pursuing.