News Release

Bioengineering Alumni are Running for ALS

The duo will compete in the Boston Marathon

April 16, 2026 -- From bioengineering graduate students at UC San Diego, to the streets of Washington D.C. for the Marine Corps Marathon, UC San Diego alumni Scott Dorfman (bioengineering master’s 2009) and Tatsuya (Tats) Arai (bioengineering PhD 2013) have forged a life-long friendship. And now, they’re running together again, this time in the Boston Marathon on April 20, to support a cause that hits close to home: ALS organizations.

In 2021 at the age of 38, Scott was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. The progressive neuromuscular disease gradually destroys motor neurons that control voluntary muscle movement. Wanting to find a way to help his friend, Tats proposed running as a duo in a marathon.

“No one had really asked me anything that interesting or personal, so I didn’t say ‘Yes’ at the time, but I also didn't say ‘No,’” said Scott. “Tats was all about it, looking up marathons across the country, but it was overwhelming for me so I wasn’t 100% convinced. And one day he just said ‘OK, I signed us up for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC.’ So I said, ‘Ok, I guess this is happening!’”

Scott and Tats met as graduate bioengineering students, who bonded over shared coursework and a love of skiing and hiking. After Scott graduated, he went on to have a career in the medical device and biotech industry. After graduation, Tats spent time as a postdoctoral scholar optimizing radiation therapy for lung cancer patients, before translating his interest in neural networks to the Amazon Web Services AI team, and eventually launching his own AI company. 

The two would reconnect regularly when Tats, an avid runner who has completed more than two dozen marathons, would stay with Scott, his wife and children when he ran each of his 10 Boston Marathons to date. 

Tats and Scott competed as a duo in the Marine Corps Marathon in October 2025, and finished as the fastest duo team with a time of 3:08:29, successfully qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

The pair will run 26.2 miles through Boston’s streets on April 20, raising money for several ALS organizations that have helped Scott and his family over the last five years as they’ve navigated this disease. 

From their time at UC San Diego, they both emphasized the importance of friendships cultivated through school.

“The importance of alumni connections, and personal connections, is crucial,” said Scott. “You build a professional network and never know who knows who somewhere that has a job connection.”

As an international student, Tats added that building friendships is even more important.

“The friendships you cultivate through school is something really cool that you have for the rest of your life after graduation. As an international student, you might be a bit hesitant to jump in to social events or even feel a bit like a foreigner. But I’d say to be more proactive, and recognize that you are a Triton. You don’t need to feel like a guest or temporary visitor – you are as much a UC San Diego student as anyone else.”

They also said that leaving college knowing HOW to learn and problem solve is crucial.

“Especially in bioengineering, the science changes so rapidly,” said Scott. “When I did my undergrad, it was the omics era – proteomics, genomics, DNA sequencing - there were technologies that were cutting edge then that were obsolete a few years later. But being in school and learning the tools and techniques and problem solving abilities is what will ultimately help you in any career path.”

You can learn more about Scott and Tats’ journey to Boston, and support the ALS organizations that have made an impact on Scott’s life, here. 

 

Media Contacts

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Katherine Connor
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-534-8374
khconnor@ucsd.edu