Dan Doctoroff’s Post

In its reading recommendations for the weekend, The Economist's New York reporter writes: "Every journalist, politician and pundit worth their salt has read (or claims to have read) Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker”, about Robert Moses. In the 20th century Moses built bridges, tunnels, roads, public housing and beaches, reshaping and sometimes scarring New York City and its surrounds. They should also read “The Urbanist: Dan Doctoroff and the Rise of New York”, which chronicles in roughly 100 essays how Mr. Doctoroff, the city’s deputy mayor under Mike Bloomberg, helped to reshape New York after the attacks of September 11th 2001. He used the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan as a catalyst for growth all over the city. He was the force behind new cultural institutions, such as The Shed (NY), along with new stadiums and parks, including the the High Line. Nearly half of the city was re-zoned, with quality-of-life improvements and sustainability in mind and with decidedly less bulldozing than Moses." Copies available online, including at www.phaidon.com/urbanist.

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve had a setback on my ALS journey. About six weeks ago I got pneumonia, ended up in the hospital for 16 days and had a tracheostomy, which means a have a tube sticking out of my throat (attached to a ventilator). But I’m bouncing back. I’m back at work, raising money for Target ALS, and even going out to dinner.

When I was diagnosed with ALS, I set a goal of raising $250 million to scale up Target ALS, which has played a major role in catalyzing ALS research. I founded Target ALS in 2013 after my father and uncle died of ALS. I’m proud to announce that we have exceeded our goal. Thanks to our donors and our incredible team.

Mike Bloomberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom this afternoon, the highest civilian honor. He is three generations of Rockefellers rolled into one — a great entrepreneur, philanthropist, and elected official. He is my hero.

I did an interview with Brian Lehrer of WNYC today. We covered how our team shaped New York for the 21st century, which is covered in the new book about me: The Urbanist: Dan Doctoroff and the Rise of New York. It is officially out next Thursday.

I’m going to be having a conversation with my good friend Danny Meyer on 4/25 at 7 pm at 92NY on the new book that was written about me: The Urbanist: Dan Doctoroff and the Rise of New York. You can get tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eBHmCa-E

Yesterday was a big day for Target ALS and ALS research generally. We launched a first-ever data portal that will give investigators access to postmortem tissue, longitudinal biofluids, and stem cells with no-strings-attached. This will accelerate discovery of treatments and biomarkers. I am so proud of our team, especially Amy Easton, our Senior Director of Scientific Programs.

Governor Kathy Hochul, whose mother died of ALS, proposed the largest ever program for ALS care and research by a state in history. Target ALS worked with the Governor and her team and ALS United Greater New York, the New York Genome Center, the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center at Columbia University, and the University of Rochester Medical Center in a remarkably collaborative way to develop the proposal.

Ten years since Target ALS was founded! We’ve made enormous progress, but we’ve got a long way to go until Everyone Lives with ALS. I’ve never been more hopeful.