He’s turning his disease into a business plan: ALS patient advocacy

He was a platoon leader in the Israeli army, and later was accepted to Harvard Business School. Then came an odd tremor in his right forearm. It persisted, and once in Boston, he was diagnosed with ALS. Now, almost three years after his diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease, amytotrophic lateral sclerosis), his wheelchair has a Borat sticker.

"Avi moved very quickly from the anger stage after diagnosis to a very applied, entrepreneurial stage when he said, 'Let’s get on with it. Let’s find the solution. Let’s put the resources on the table to empower research,'" said his neurologist, Dr. Robert Brown of Mass General Hospital. He raised money with a guarantee to donors: If there’s no solution to the problem, they would get their money back. With the help of friends from the business school and neurologists, Avi started a scientific competition called Prize4Life. Scientists will win prize money only after solving crucial questions about ALS that could speed the discovery of drugs to slow the disease. The first question, with a $1 million prize and deadline in November 2008, asks researchers to identify markers of the disease’s progression. So far, Prize4Life’s scientific advisors have selected the five winners of small cash awards in the first round.

Learn more at Prize4Life.

Read another of our hero stories, or read Stephen Smith’s source story in Monday’s Boston Globe.