The ALS Network presented four researchers with the Barber Research Award during the UC ALS Reinvigorating Innovation in ALS Research workshop on May 15-16. From left to right: Julie Smeyers, UCSF; Saeed Fathi, UCSF; Sheri Strahl, ALS Network president and CEO; Anna Caroline Masarenhas Dos Santos, LLNL; Sidar Aydin, UCSD.
The ALS Network’s Barber Research Awards celebrate scientific achievement by recognizing early-career researchers whose work holds the promise of new treatments and cures for ALS.
The ALS Network presented awards to four deserving researchers at the University of California (UC) Reinvigorating Innovation in ALS Research workshop May 15-16, 2025, at the University of California Livermore Collaboration Center (UCLCC) in Livermore, CA.
The latest researchers receiving the Barber Research Award include:
- Sidar Aydin, PhD, UCSD
- Saeed Fathi, UCSF
- Anna Caroline Mascarenhas Dos Santos, PhD, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Julie Smeyers, PhD, USCF
They join three other 2025 award winners including: Olatz Arnold-Garcia, UCSD; Jasper Rubin-Sigler, USC; and Vladimir Zhemkov, Cedars-Sinai.
The ALS Network’s collaborative approach to research accelerates progress by harnessing innovative ideas and translating scientific concepts into therapies. Empowering the next generation of scientists and funding the most promising research around the globe, the ALS Network fuels innovative partnerships across all sectors – government, industry, academia, and other nonprofit organizations.
Named for Jim Barber, a Vietnam War veteran and successful attorney who lived with ALS for a decade, the awards have been given annually since 2017. Jim was committed to the mission of the ALS Network and held a deep passion for advancing scientific achievement by bolstering researchers and developing new ideas.