James Berry, MD, MPH

Dr. James D. Berry, MD, MPH is the Co-Chair of NEALS and Chief of the Division of Motor Neuron Diseases at Massachusetts General Brigham. He serves as Director of the Neurological Clinical Research Institute (NCRI) at Mass General Hospital (MGH) and is a dedicated ALS clinical researcher at the Sean M. Healey and AMG Center for ALS. He holds the titles of Winthrop Family Scholar in ALS Sciences and Averill Healey Endowed Chair for ALS at MGH.

Dr. Berry has been a member of NEALS for over a decade and founded the NEALS Technology Subcommittee. He also helps oversee the NEALS Biorepository and serves as one of the multiple principal investigators of the ALL ALS Consortium (www.all-als.org). His research focuses on the development of digital and biofluid biomarkers, ALS clinical trial design and conduct, and increasing trial access for people with ALS by integrating research into clinical care.

He is actively advancing decentralized clinical trial methodologies, including the ALSFRS-RSE (ALS Functional Rating Scale – Revised for Self-Entry), accelerometry, and motor speech analysis. As an experienced clinical trialist, Dr. Berry leads trials of novel therapeutic approaches including small molecules, antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), gene therapies, and cell-based treatments.

Dr. Berry earned his undergraduate degree from Tufts University and worked as a middle school teacher through Teach for America in Houston before attending medical school at Northwestern University. He completed his neurology residency and fellowship at Mass General Brigham.