Dr. Stephen Goutman’s clinical and research expertise is focused on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease with limited treatment options. He is currently the Director of the University of Michigan Pranger ALS Clinic, an ALS Association Certified Center of Excellence, where a multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive and compassionate care to persons with ALS and their families.

Inspired by these patients, Dr. Goutman’s research focuses on identifying new mechanisms and therapies for ALS. Specifically, he has been seeking to understand the genetic and environmental interactions that alter susceptibility to ALS, especially in the State of Michigan which has some of the highest rates of ALS in the country. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the ALS Association, he is discovering environmental risk factors associated with the onset and progression of ALS by collecting epidemiologic exposure surveys and biofluids from individuals with and without ALS. His research shows a link between ALS and pesticides, and his recent article on this work received widespread attention, as this important finding may help solve the mystery of ALS. Dr. Goutman also collaborates with teams of scientists to identify the immune system’s role in ALS and find new drugs that can address these changes in the immune system. The ultimate goal is to one day make ALS a preventable disease.

Dr. Goutman serves as the site principal investigator of several multi-site clinical trials focused on identifying new ALS treatments. He is an active participant with the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) and has close to a decade of experience leading ALS clinical trials at University of Michigan.