Murray Grossman, MD, EdD, a professor of Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Penn’s Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) Center, recently received the Legal Clinic for the Disabled's Special Recognition Award, the organization’s highest honor, for his lifetime commitment to the disability community.

Grossman’s work at the FTD Center entails the care of patients with FTD and related dementias, characterized by the progressive loss of neurons (brain cells) in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain.

Patients with FTD experience symptoms ranging from behavioral impairments to language or motor dysfunction. The disease deprives them of their cognitive abilities, personality and eventually their independence.  An estimated 10,000 cases are diagnosed each year.

Grossman is also president of the Katie Sampson Foundation, a local foundation providing funding for promising research and rehabilitation treatments and programs that afford patients with spinal cord injuries independence and quality of life. In this role, Grossman works closely with LCD and has been instrumental to the organization’s growth.

LCD honored his tremendous impact on the disability community through his research, writing and the care of patients with FTD and related disorders with this award.  

“His career speaks to an understanding of the importance of community, not just within the field of research, but also to grassroots efforts to support a better quality of life for people with (brain and) spinal cord injury,” Linda Peyton, LCD Executive Director said of Grossman in presenting his award.  

“I am honored to be recognized by the LCD,” Grossman said. “Their programs and expertise have helped patients in desperate physical or emotional situations get the legal protection and support they need. Their services are invaluable to those who are resource-challenged.”

The Legal Clinic for the Disabled (LCD) provides free legal services to low-income people with physical disabilities and to the deaf and hard of hearing in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania.

Read the original press release here.