Research Insights Episodes

Last week, the National MS Society convened the Pathways to Cures Think Tank. I think that we'll look back at this meeting as a historic moment when a flag was planted and intentions were declared. We've taken the first steps toward creating a global consensus for defining specific pathways to stop MS progression, restore lost function, and end MS. The Pathways to Cures Think Tank was an extraordinary event, and we're devoting this entire episode of RealTalk MS to hearing from some of the parti...

Access to MS symptom self-management care is extremely limited. That's why my guest, Dr. Anna Kratz, and her colleagues created My MS Toolkit -- a web-based, self-guided symptom self-care program designed especially for people with MS. (And it's FREE!) We're talking with Dr. Kratz about how My MS Toolkit was developed and what makes it such a powerful online tool for people living with MS. We're also talking about the latest petitions filed with the Supreme Court in the battle over the Afforda...

MS Warriors are those special individuals whose efforts on behalf of people affected by MS go above and beyond the norm to raise awareness, raise funds, and raise our spirits My guest this week is Marc Boyer. Marc biked more than 4,000 miles, from one end of Canada to the other, raising over $160,000 for the MS Society of Canada. Marc not only raised money that will fund important MS research, his coast-to-coast ride also raised MS awareness throughout Canada. We're also taking a look back at t...

In this episode of RealTalk MS, we're re-visiting my conversation from ECTRIMS 2019 with Dr. Bruce Bebo, the Executive Vice-President of Research at the National MS Society. This is one of my favorite conversations of the entire year, and you've made it this year's most downloaded and listened to RealTalk MS episode. We're also talking about a new report issued by RAND Europe, entitled Exploring the Societal Burden of Multiple Sclerosis: A Study Into the Non-Clinical Impact of the Disease, Incl...

Is MS preventable? Is progressive MS modifiable? We'll tackle these questions and more with my guest, Professor Gavin Giovannoni. Professor Giovannoni is not only a leading academic neurologist based at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University London, he's also a prolific blogger, tweeter, speaker, author, and opinion leader. It's a conversation you don't want to miss! We're also taking a look back at the major MS news stories of 2019. We're talking about new...

Last week, the National MS Society and RealTalk MS announced a new partnership. And we're definitely talking about it! My guest is Dr. Soha Saleh, a research scientist at Kessler Foundation's Center for Mobility and Rehabilitation Engineering Research, and we're talking about her innovative research in understanding how MS impacts dual-tasking -- something that all of us do, all day long. We'll tell you about the newly announced Weill Neurohub, and why that's such promising news for people aff...

My guest this week is Dr. Mary Bailey, a neurologist specializing in MS care at the Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis in Hartford, Connecticut, and we're talking about some of the changes that occur as relapsing-remitting MS transitions to secondary progressive MS. Since about 80% of the people living with relapsing-remitting MS will experience that transition to secondary progressive MS, I think it's an important conversation to have. Since yesterday was Veterans Day in the United States,...

My guest this week is Dr. Silvana Costa, a research scientist in the Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Center at the Kessler Foundation. Dr. Costa's work is focused on cognitive impairment in MS, specifically, information processing speed, which is something that people living with MS often have to deal with. We'll talk with Dr. Costa about some of her specific research, along with a promising intervention designed to improve cognitive processing speed for people living with MS. We're also talki...

I'm back from attending the MS International Federation's People With MS Forum in Athens, Greece, and it was a remarkable few days spent with some truly remarkable people. In this episode of RealTalk MS, you'll meet two of those remarkable people. First, we'll talk with Dr. Laura Musambayi, the founder of the MS Association of Kenya. Dr. Musambayi will share her experiences in a country of 50 million people, with just 20 neurologists, and no access to disease-modifying therapy. Then, you'll mee...

For almost 20 years, the CLIMB Study has been following thousands of MS patients, discovering so many aspects of multiple sclerosis and documenting how the disease changes over time. My guest is Dr. Tanuja Chitnis, Director of the CLIMB Study, Director of the Partners Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, as well as the Director of the Translational Neuroimmunology Research Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. We're also talking about an emerging topic tha...