ALS is not incurable. ALS is just underfunded, and the Live Like Lou Foundation is proud to be doing something about it.
That’s why in 2020, we teamed up with the top-tier research institution, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), to establish new, pre-clinical, and innovative ALS science. Together, we launched the It’s a Whole New Ballgame for ALS Research campaign to fund Middle Tennessee’s largest investment in ALS discovery.
With a goal to raise $3.5 million by 2025, these funds will help recruit a translational scientist to serve as VUMC’s new Director of ALS Research, charged with leading pre-clinical, novel science investigations, building a diverse, dynamic, and productive research laboratory, and supporting the ALS clinical practice and research, leveraging the excellent research capabilities and reputation of the Vanderbilt community.
We offer special thanks to our campaign chair and Nashville local, W.L. Gray, and our outstanding committee of ALS champions and friends serving as advisors, connectors, and donors in this public, private, and institutional partnership:
But we aren’t stopping here! This investment seeds a long-term partnership between Live Like Lou and VUMC with several sustaining opportunities ahead of us. In fact, we’re back in front of Governor Bill Lee requesting continued support from the state of Tennessee.
“With vital help from our friends and benefactors, we’re out to place VUMC’s exceptional basic neuroscience resources more fully in the service of solving this truly devastating illness,” said Dane Chetkovich, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurology. “Our Neuromuscular Disorders Clinic works with more than 130 ALS patients, but we’re unfortunately all too aware that, at present, there’s only so much we can do for them. This is a priority for VUMC, and now we have a philanthropic partner to help make it happen.”
“ALS has been around for 150 years, and we still can't answer important questions about this devastating disease,” said Live Like Lou Chairman W. L. Gray. “We need more world-class institutions and researchers in the fight for treatments and cures, and we are thrilled to help spur new discoveries right here in Nashville.”
Join us at the ballpark in March to celebrate this exciting moment for Live Like Lou and VUMC at the All 4 Lou Showdown when Vandy Boys baseball takes on local Nashville teams Belmont (March 14) and Lipscomb (March 21).
The Nashville Sounds and First Horizon Park will host the All 4 Lou Showdown, a two-game college baseball series, on March 14 and 21. The games, featuring the Vanderbilt Commodores, Belmont Bruins, and Lipscomb Bisons baseball teams, begin at 6 p.m. and gates open at 5 p.m. Tickets start at $10.56 for general admission seating and with each ticket purchased, $4 goes to the Live Like Lou Fund for ALS Research at VUMC.
