Advocacy & Policy Episodes

This week, we're talking about shady stem cell clinics and their shady clinical trials. We'll tell you about a study that makes a connection between stress-related disorders and autoimmune disease, and a research team that may have identified the possible genetic causes of MS. My guest is Dr. Laura Rice, an expert in rehabilitation science and technology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne. Dr. Rice's focus is on maximizing the quality of life and community participation among wheel...

We're at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, talking about mental health care for people living with MS, coping with anxiety, and the real advantages of telerehabilitation. We even sat down to talk with with artist and MS Activist Lydia Emily. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??!

We're at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, and we're talking about community based programs to enhance comprehensive MS care, understanding the MS care partner's perspective, improving MS treatment outcomes, and more. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??!

The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, or MSAA, provides programs and resources designed to improve the lives of people affected by MS. Whether it's financial assistance for an MRI exam, a new computer, mobility equipment, or even a cooling vest, the MSAA can help. My guest today is Gina Murdoch, the President and CEO of the MSAA, and we're talking about the organization's almost 50-year history, their shared management philosophy of living with MS, and we're taking a deeper dive into i...

My guest this week is Yvette Brisco. Yvette is an MS activist and an MS warrior. And when Yvette talks about the fight to find a cure, she means it literally! We're also talking about the European Medicine Agency's safety review of Lemtrada. We'll tell you about the 20 million American caregivers who are performing medical or nursing tasks for which they've received no training. We'll give you a real-world example of why people living with MS (or anyone else) living in a care facility need an a...

In less than a decade, Meat Fight has actually grown from a backyard barbecue to a non-profit organization that hosts several different fundraising events, offers some unique programs for people affected by MS, and has raised more than $1 million dollars for the National MS Society. My guest today is Alice Laussade, the creator of Meat Fight, and the very definition of a real MS Warrior. We're also talking about a new research initiative to investigate cannabis and MS. We'll tell you about the ...

If someone is being treated for MS, their neurologist is using the Expanded Disability Status Score, or EDSS, to indicate their level of disability. What if there were a better, easier, and more accurate way to measure mobility and evaluate disability? My guest today is Dr. Valerie Block, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Neurology at University of California San Francisco. As a physical therapist, Dr. Block is focused on MS rehabilitation. And we're talking about a just-published stud...

MS is an equal opportunity neurological disease. It doesn't seem to discriminate against any particular ethnic or racial group. It affects Latinos and African-Americans, as well as Caucasians. And if you're an MS research scientist, who's hoping to create a viable treatment that's going to be safe & effective for the diverse population living with multiple sclerosis, then having that diversity represented in your clinical research seems like it would be important. Unfortunately, it doesn't alway...

It's MS Awareness Week! And the single event that is likely going to have the most impact in raising awareness of MS in the United States is the recent announcement of the MS Prevalence Study results. The results of this study corrected the decades old notion that there were only about 400,000 people living with MS in the United States. We now know that the number of people living with MS in the U.S. is closer to one million. More than twice as many as had been previously estimated. In this sp...

My guest this week is Diane Whitcraft, a retired middle school teacher who had been taking the same MS prescription medication for more than 20 years. But once Diane retired and her health insurance changed, that same medication became unaffordable. Diane traveled to Washington D.C. last month, as Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin's guest at the President's State of the Union address. She is back in our nation's capitol this week, speaking at the National MS Society's Public Policy Conference abo...