For researchers
It all fits together
GeoALS is at the forefront of environmental risk factor research and research on clinic care access.
Because GeoALS initiatives have similar requirements, they fit together well and strengthen each other. For example, reaching out to the underserved ALS community increases the number of ALS patients counted in the ALS registry, getting us closer to a more accurate patient count. The more accurate this count, the better the ALS research, including the research that GeoALS supports, such as risk factor research and place history studies.
Environmental risk factor analysis
By analyzing Living Atlas data such as superfund site data against the place history data of ALS patients, we can identify patterns that shorten the list of suspected environmental triggers of ALS.
Care access analysis
Using location analytics we can show where the most optimal location is to establish a new clinic. We can identify gaps in care and underserved communities by analyzing factors such as drive times, population densities, and vulnerable population data.
Place history analysis
We believe that analyzing the common lived locations of ALS patients could lead to a short list of environmental risk factors and, ultimately, treatments.