Growing partnership with Boston Marathon boosts ALS research at UMass Chan
Date Posted: Thursday, June 20, 2024
On April 15, the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund Boston Marathon team laced up for the iconic race in support of ALS research at UMass Chan Medical School. Combining the commonwealth’s world-famous marathon and an effort to end ALS started under the leadership of the late Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci, this partnership is steeped in meaning and has become a growing UMass Chan tradition.
Numbering 10 strong, the 2024 Cellucci Fund team was the largest group in the team’s 13-year history. Bibs were granted through the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program, which comprises nearly 10 percent of the Boston Marathon field size. Selected organizations use their entries to recruit athletes who pledge to raise funds for their cause.
A commitment to fighting ALS is a common thread that unites the Cellucci Fund marathon team in a profound way. This year’s team raised more than $105,000, exceeding their goal and bringing critical funding to ALS and related research at UMass Chan and in the lab of Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Neurosciences and professor of neurology.
Runner Patti Reed Logan led the team in fundraising, bringing in nearly $19,000 for ALS research. Patti lost her husband, Clint, to a rare neurodegenerative disease in 2021.
“I’m thrilled to be part of the growing legacy of UMass ALS Cellucci Fund marathon runners,” said Logan. “I kept thinking about the people and families impacted by ALS while I was training, and the promising research breakthroughs happening at UMass Chan. It was a very powerful motivator.”
Dr. Brown expressed deep gratitude to the runners.
“Each one of them has some relationship to ALS and has been impacted in some way by the disease,” he said. “We feel incredibly grateful, not only to the fund in general, but to those runners. It’s very motivating for all of us.”
One of the world's foremost authorities on ALS, Dr. Brown and his lab team are making extraordinary advances in efforts to combat ALS, for which there are currently no effective treatments.
“As a researcher and clinician studying ALS for more than 30 years, I can say with confidence that our work is at a critical inflection point, which includes human clinical trials with innovative and promising new therapies,” Dr. Brown said. “While we still have much more to do, I have never been more optimistic about the possibility of effectively treating genetic ALS, and eventually all forms of ALS.”
Members of the 2024 UMass ALS Cellucci Fund Boston Marathon Team include:
- Katherine Binkoski, Boston
- Carla Bolduc, Weare, New Hampshire
- Katie Cahill, West Roxbury
- Cameron Daly, Dorchester
- Meghan Frazier, Medford
- Gavin Hamilton, Kingston
- Erin Mannion, Hudson
- Paul McNeil, Worcester
- Patti Reed Logan, Mansfield
- Gaby Weilding, Hopkinton
If you would like to support the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund, please visit umassals.com.
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