January 22, 2008

Stanley Appel To Receive McGovern Award

Neurologist Stanley H. Appel, chairman of MDA’s Medical Advisory Committee, director of the MDA/ALS Center at the Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston, and a long-time MDA research grantee, will receive the prestigious John P. McGovern Compleat Physician Award for 2008 on Jan. 25.

This national award, given by the Houston Academy of Medicine, recognizes a physician who embodies exemplary service to humanity and whose career reflects medical excellence, humane and ethical care, and commitment to the medical humanities.

Appel, who specializes in research in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as in the care of patients with this paralyzing and fatal disease, is co-founder and co-director of the Methodist Neurological Institute and a professor of neurology with Weill Cornell Medical College.

He currently holds two MDA research grants, one to study the protective or toxic properties of immune-system cells, particularly in ALS; and another to study the possibility of using stem cells to carry neurotrophic (nerve-nourishing) compounds to the spinal cord in ALS.