Dr. Shefner is Professor of Neurology and Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Research at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ. He is trained in neurology and clinical neurophysiology, and has devoted his clinical and research efforts to experimental therapeutics, clinical trial design, and outcome measure development primarily directed towards ALS. He received a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Illinois in 1976, and an MD from Northwestern University in 1983. After residency and fellowship training at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Shefner started the ALS Clinic at BWH and participated in multiple industry sponsored ALS clinical trials. He co-founded the Northeast ALS Clinical Trials Consortium (NEALS) in 1995, and co-chaired NEALS through 2013. He remains on the Executive Committee for NEALS. NEALS has grown to include more than 100 sites throughout the US and Canada, and has performed more than 50 clinical studies since 1995. Dr. Shefner has held leadership positions in many NIH and industry supported clinical trials.  He has published more than 230 peer reviewed scientific articles, is neuromuscular section editor of UpToDate, and serves on the editorial board of Neurotherapeutics and the ALS Journal.  He is also past Chair of the ALS Research Group and the New York Neurological Society. In 2014, he was awarded the Sheila Essey Award for ALS Research by the ALS Association and the American Academy of Neurology.