Dr. Richard Bedlack grew up in a small town in central Connecticut. He went to college at William and Mary in Virginia, then back to Connecticut for an MD and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at UConn. Finally, he came to Duke where he completed his Medicine Internship, Neurology Residency, Neuromuscular Fellowship, and Masters in Clinical Research Science.

He is currently the Stewart, Hughes and Wendt Distinguished Professor of ALS at Duke and Director of the Duke ALS Clinic. He has won awards for teaching and patient care, including best Neurology teacher at Duke, Health Care Hero, Strength Hope and Caring Award, America’s Best Doctor, the American Academy of Neurology Patient Advocate of the Year, the Rasmussen ALS Patient Advocate of the Year, the NEALS Gupta Prize and the International Forbes Norris Award.

He has received ALS research grants, participated in ALS clinical trials, published more than 150 ALS articles.  He is the leader of the international ALSUntangled program which utilizes social networking to investigate alternative and off-label treatment options for patients with ALS, and leader of the ALS Reversals program which attempts to understand why some people with ALS recover from it, and to make this happen more often. He lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Shelly and two mischievous cats.