Jeannie Fontana, MD, PhD
Advocate

As a patient advocate, Dr. Fontana focuses primarily on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS”).  She is called upon frequently to speak to scientists and the interested public on behalf of ALS patients.  In 2000, Dr. Fontana, as advocacy chair for the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of ALS Association, participated in the first Senate hearing for ALS, chaired by Senator Arlen Specter and Congresswoman Lois Capps. Since then, she has participated in many ALS related policies at both the Federal and State levels resulting in the passage of five new ALS amendments. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of the National ALS Association.  In 2002, Dr. Fontana founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation Solutions for ALS, or SALSa, Inc., a Marlene Hall Foundation.  She joined the Board of Trustees of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in 2003 (La Jolla, CA), where she has a particular focus on the ALS research and the stem cell programs.

In 2005, Dr. Fontana was appointed Executive Director of Patient Advocacy at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, in which capacity she serves as an alternate for Dr. John Reed on the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC) of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the governing body charged with implementing California’s Proposition 71.  Dr. Fontana recently organized a medical clinic for ALS patients at Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Hospital, which opened Spring 2007.

Dr. Fontana earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the Medical College of Virginia and her M.D. from the University of Southern California.  She is board-certified in internal medicine by the State of California.