Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 8:26PM Chris Diamond, older brother to the late Cofounder Toni Diamond, passed away from ALS in December 2023. He was an exceptional person, well loved and respected, leaving behind his wife Marcia, son Christopher, daughter Kelley, and granddaughter Kiara. You can learn more about Chris here: Obituary
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 3:31PM Everyone should read Brian Wallach's testimony to Congress. His testimony, which you can read here, brilliantly advocates for more federal support for ALS research and clinical trials. It condemns the FDA's abject failure to put treatments in line for patient care, worrying instead about the affect of these therapies on people with a fatal disease. Everyone should urge their Congressional representatives to pass the legisliation dicussed by Brian and to pressure the FDA to make the necessary changes and grant the approvals for treatments for ALS. Here is just some of what Brian said:
So I come to you today with two urgent asks. Ones that if you make real will change my and millions of others’ futures.
First, fund ARPA-H and include ALS among its’ core disease areas. During the 2020 campaign then-candidate Joe Biden promised ALS patient Ady Barkan that he would seek to create ARPA-H, modeled after DARPA, to solve issues relating to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. He also promised that ALS—along with cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s—would be among the first diseases it tackled.
Second, we need you to hold FDA accountable for failing ALS patients by denying any type of approval for two promising therapies this year.
I implore Congress to hold hearings on these denials to bring transparency and accountability to a process that has left the ALS community devastated.
In addition to hearings, I ask you to pass and fund 2 bipartisan bills to ensure this does not happen again. Over the last year, the fight against COVID-19 showed how much regulatory flexibility FDA has when it wants to use it. Since FDA appears unwilling to use it to give ALS patients a chance to live, we have worked with members of Congress to reform how FDA approaches diseases like ALS.
The first, ACT for ALS, is being reintroduced this week. It will, among other items, make a significant amount of funding available to establish expanded access programs. Programs that will make promising therapies available to ALS patients now while fueling additional research into a therapy’s safety and efficacy.
The second, The Promising Pathways Act, was reintroduced in the Senate last week. It will, among other things, allow for conditional approval of promising therapies after Phase II for life-threatening diseases like ALS. This would put us on par with Europe.
Today, the science needed to cure ALS is moving faster than ever and finally producing therapies that may be able to slow or stop this disease. This reality must be matched by a new regulatory approach that speeds promising therapies to patients. As I have outlined, despite programs aimed to do just that which have worked in other diseases, we do not have that approach for ALS today. It is our moral obligation to change this broken approach for all those facing ALS just as we did for HIV and cancer.
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 11:07AM NEW YORK, NY – May 10, 2021
ABC Eyewitness News Anchor, Bill Ritter, will once again host the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Wings Over Wall Street benefit, this year, honoring the late Pat Quinn co-founder of the Ice Bucket Challenge, with experts from the ALS medical community and families.
This year’s event will be a thought leadership summit that will highlight the pipeline of promise for new treatments and ultimately a cure for ALS.
Watch Wings Over Wall Street Co-Founder Warren Schiffer in this video.
Guest speakers include:
This event will also include an MDA ALS Awareness Month Auction (online May 20 through June 2).
Thursday, May 20, 7-8pm ET
For over 20 years, MDA’s Wings Over Wall Street committee has been fundraising for research to Unlock the Cure for ALS.
"Not many people know that MDA started funding research into ALS with Eleanor Gehrig, wife of Lou Gehrig, back in the 1950’s. And for 70 years, our support of research and patient care in ALS has been unrelenting. Today, there is a network of MDA ALS Care Centers that criss-cross the nation where patients and families can find the most advanced care in the world. But it’s not enough. We have much more to do in finding effective treatments and one day, a cure. The more public support and awareness we can raise through our efforts in collaboration with the entire ALS community, the more progress we will make toward finding that cure,” said Donald S. Wood, PhD, President and CEO of MDA. "Until that day is reached, we will continue our efforts on behalf of the more than 30,000 people diagnosed with ALS or, as it was known 70 years ago, Lou Gehrig’s disease."
For more information on ALS and MDA’s impact:
Thank you to our presenting sponsors IEX and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America.
For 70 years, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has been committed to transforming the lives of people living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular diseases. We do this through innovations in science and innovations in care. As the largest source of funding for neuromuscular disease research outside of the federal government, MDA has committed more than $1 billion since our inception to accelerate the discovery of therapies and cures. Research we have supported is directly linked to life-changing therapies across multiple neuromuscular diseases. MDA's MOVR is the first and only data hub that aggregates clinical, genetic, and patient-reported data for multiple neuromuscular diseases to improve health outcomes and accelerate drug development. MDA supports the largest network of multidisciplinary clinics providing best-in-class care at more than 150 of the nation's top medical institutions. Our Resource Center serves the community with one-on-one specialized support, and we offer educational conferences, events, and materials for families and healthcare providers. MDA Advocacy supports equal access for our community, and each year thousands of children and young adults learn vital life skills and gain independence at summer camp and through recreational programs, at no cost to families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, MDA continues to produce virtual events and programming to support our community when in-person events and activities are not possible. MDA’s COVID-19 guidelines and virtual events are posted at mda.org/COVID19. For more information, visit mda.org.
Monday, May 3, 2021 at 12:39PM The first ever ALS Platform Trial, the Healey Platform, is here and Wings Over Wall Street has a virtual panel discussing it on May 20 as part of the Wings Virtual ALS Event. The Healey Platform is located at Massachusetts General Hospital and will provide groundbreaking and fast-track ALS drug trials. You can learn more about the Healey Platform here. Join Wings on May 20th at 7:00 pm ET to hear more about the Healey Platform and other ALS developments. To watch the Wings 2021 Virtual Event and to donate, click here.
Friday, April 9, 2021 at 1:35PM Gather your friends for an exciting evening of Trivia at the first Wings Over Wall Street Bar Night Trivia event. Held on Thursday, May 13, 2021, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. across NYC, young professionials will gather with teams to play trivia and support MDA's Wings Over Wall Street's mission to raise funds for ALS research. Want more information? Go to this link.
Bar Night Trivia will be hosted by NYC Trivia League. NYC Trivia League is available to host your organization's trivia events both live and virtually.
Bars participating include: Trinity Pub, Juke Bar and Chelsea Bell. Support these local businesses while you play - pay for drinks/food as you go. Raise funds for ALS research.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at 3:45PM MDA's Wings Over Wall Street is proud to announce that Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America and IEX Group, Inc. have joined Wings as Presenting Sponsors for the Pipeline of Progress Virtual Event on May 20, 2021. Both MTPA and IEX have been generous sponsors, including Presenting Sponsors, of past Wings Over Wall Street Galas. Having their commitment for 2021 demonstrates how seriously they take Wings' mission to raise funds to find treatments and a cure for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Please join MTPA and IEX and the Wings family on May 20, 2021 for this important virtual event on ALS research.
Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 12:28PM As part of the Muscular Dystrophy Association's celebration of ALS Awareness Month in May 2021, Wings will host a series of virtual panel discussions on ALS research developments on the Pipeline of Progress toward a cure and treatments for ALS. Hosted by BIll Ritter, Anchor, ABC News, the panel discussions will include:
The virtual event will conclude with a Mission Moment hosted by Bill Ritter, Anchor ABC News, in memory of Pat Quinn, co-founder of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, to raise funds for critically needed ALS research.
Join the MDA and Wings Over Wall Street on Thursday, May 20, 2021, for this important ALS Research event.
Friday, January 24, 2020 at 2:46PM Wings Over Wall Street is proud to announce that the theme for its 20th Anniversary Gala is "Pipeline of Promise," underwritten by IEX our Pipeline of Promise Sponsor.
What does Pipeline of Promise mean? What it means is that for the past 20 years Wings, through its generous sponsors and donors, has been part of the Pipeline of Promise to unlock the cure for ALS. Raising over $12 million dollars for the ALS researchers has enabled those researchers to make great strides towards the promise of treatments and a cure for ALS.
With its 20th Anniversary Gala, the Pipeline of Promise will continue to flow with the fantastic support of our sponsors and donors. That effort will culminate with a gala sit-down dinner, a printed event journal, an auction, a wine pull and other surprises.
There are a multitude of opportunities for sponsors and donors to participate in the Pipeline of Promise 20th Anniversary Gala. These are some of the opportunities, which have changed from the past several years to be more in line with today's level of fundraising:
2020 Sponsorship Levels
Pipeline of Promise Sponsor: $100,000 SOLD OUT
Presenting Sponsor: $50,000
Sapphire Sponsor: $35,000
Platinum Sponsor: $25,000
Gold Sponsor: $15,000
Silver Sponsor: $10,000
Bronze Sponsor: $7,500
2020 Journal Ad Opportunities
Gold Page
Silver Page
Bronze Page
Full Page: Color
½ Page: Black and White
¼ Page: Black and White
Individual tickets for the Pipeline of Promise Gala 20th Anniversary Dinner are $600.
As you know, Wings honors very special people each year. For the Pipeline of Promise 20th Anniversary, our Honorees are as follows:
Beier Award: Victor Wright; MDA Board Member, retired partner of Goldman Sachs & Co
Spirit Award: Patty Haberstroh: Founder of the Pepper Challenge. Patty suffers from ALS and has dedicated herself to helping others, raising close to $1,000,0000 for ALS research through major media and celebrity coverage of the pepper challenge.
Humanitarian Award: IEX: Co-founders Brad Katsuyama and Ronan Ryan
Diamond Award: For the 2020 event all past honorees will receive the award, a who’s who in the ALS arena. All past Diamond Award receipients have confirmed that they will be attending on May 20th so please join them.
Additionally, our emcee will once again be the great Bill Ritter from ABC News in New York.
Wings Over Wall Street's 20th Anniversary Pipeline of Promise Gala is not to be missed. For more information, please contact the MDA at (212) 682-5272 or specialeventwings@mdausa.org.
Monday, December 30, 2019 at 12:42PM For the 20th Anniversary of Wings Over Wall Street, we have a stellar group of Honorees.
Beier Award: Victor Wright; MDA Board Member, retired partner of Goldman Sachs & Co
Spirit Award: Patty Haberstroh: Founder of the Pepper Challenge. Patty suffers from ALS and has dedicated herself to helping others, raising close to $1,000,0000 for ALS research through major media and celebrity coverage of the pepper challenge.
Humanitarian Award: IEX: Co-founders Brad Katsuyama and Ronan Ryan
Diamond Award: For the 2020 event all past honorees will receive the award, a who’s who in the ALS arena.
Emcee: Bill Ritter, ABC News
Join us in May 2020 to unlock the cure for ALS.
Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 9:32AM 2017 Michael P. Beier Award honoree Jim Jansen has joined White Ops as Vice President of Global Sales. The announcement of Jim's new position includes a mention of Jim's 2017 honor at MDA's Wings Over Wall Street Gala to unlock the cure for ALS. Jim remains committed to the fight against ALS. Read the full announcement here.
Join MDA's Wings Over Wall Street for its 20th Anniversary Gala in May 2020.