Meet our ALS community’s incredible individuals, including our steadfast volunteers, researchers, advocates.
Meet the 2025 Barber ALS Award winners
Meet the 2025 Barber ALS Award winners: Jasper Rubin-Sigler, University of Southern California; Olatz Arnold-Garcia, UCSD; and Vladimir Zhemkov, Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
“ALS is a tremendously devastating disease. It also represents what I think is one of the most resilient patient communities that I know of. This award is really a testament to the commitment of not only scientists, but the patients themselves to help advance the field and bring attention to this unmet need for understanding and treating this really horrible disease.” – Jasper Rubin-Sigler, 2025 Barber ALS Award Winner
The three awardees spearhead crucial research related to ALS regarding pathological features of ALS, single-cell analysis, and RNA distinctions in motor neurons.
Meet Cherryl Fluke, JD, Executive Vice President of Mission Advancement, ALS Network
Meet Cherryl Fluke, JD, Executive Vice President of Mission Advancement for the ALS Network. In her role, Cherryl continuously engages with those living with ALS, their caregivers, ALS clinicians and researchers, and ALS advocates who work together in search a cure.
“My vision for the organization is that we are service and solutions oriented for the people that we serve. The donor’s gift is an expression of love, connected to a person who is living with ALS or has lost their battle with this disease. When we collectively pull together, we will be able to move the needle when it comes to access to cure and curing this disease.”
Meet Justin Ichida, PhD, University of Southern California
Meet Justin Ichida, PhD, University of Southern California. Dr. Ichida spearheads ALS research using cutting-edge approaches to stop nerve cells from degenerating when affected by ALS.
“The research summit is quickly becoming one of the best ALS research conferences. People are open to sharing their ideas before they are published, and that is really where we start forming new collaborations earlier and where we start figuring out where to advance the science faster.” – Dr. Ichida
Dr. Ichida is also the Head of Neuroscience Research, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, and a member of the ALS Network Board of Directors and ALS Network Scientific Advisory Committee.