A beautiful day and a great cause meant for a record-setting turnout this past weekend at the annual Florida ALS Association Walk.

More than 1,100 walkers on foot and with the aid of wheelchairs made their way across USF’s sprawling campus in Tampa, a number that “shattered last year’s total of about 300,” said Clifton Gooch, MD, professor and chair of USF Department of Neurology and director of the USF Neuroscience Collaborative.

USF opened a clinic last fall dedicated solely to treating patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS – also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The walk is the annual fundraising effort by the Florida ALS Association.

“They exceeded their fund raising goal and raised nearly a quarter million dollars, some of which will come to USF to support the multidisciplinary ALS Clinic,” Dr. Gooch said. 

“I believe that the launch of the USF ALS Clinic and our rapidly growing ALS clinical trial program were major reasons for this large crowd.”

Along with Dr. Gooch, speakers at the start of the walk included Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, and Paul Sanberg, PhD, DSc, professor and executive director of the USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair, who also served as this year’s corporate chair for the walk

From left, Dr. Paul Sanberg, Dr. Clifton Gooch, and Dr. Tuan Vu helped make the Florida ALS Walk a record-breaking event.