UC Health has announced a $13.5 million gift from the estate of alumnus Hugh H. Hoffman (MBA ’63) to advance amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient care, research, and education at the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute.

The gift, the second largest gift in the institute’s history, will support an endowed clinical support services fund; programmatic needs, including research efforts and technical equipment; a clinical neurologist chair specializing in ALS; and a research chair. The UC Health Foundation board of trustees is considering renaming the UC ALS Multidisciplinary Clinic after Hoffman, who died in 2023 at the age of 91. In 2023, the University of Cincinnati received a $56 million bequest from his estate to create the Hoffman Honors Scholar Program and support student-athletes. Hoffman’s father, Herbert H. Hoffman, died from ALS.

“Of all the neurological diseases that we know of today, ALS is likely the cruelest and the area in which we have witnessed the least progress in a century of science,” said ALS Multidisciplinary Clinic director Robert Neel. “Balancing the daily medical care of patients who are slowly being robbed of their motor function while looking for answers to stop the disease is an urgent priority. Mr. Hoffman’s generosity builds a legacy of patient care for generations.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/tdub303)