Research Insights Episodes

I imagine everyone involved in MS research has their own reasons that make it important to them. My guest this week is Dr. Anisha Doshi, and Dr. Doshi's reasons are personal and powerful. Dr. Doshi will also update us on her current research project, and we'll talk with Dr. Doshi about the path that women face as they pursue a career in Neurology. You'll also hear Atara Biotherapeutics Chief Medical Officer Dr. AJ Joshi discuss Atara's clinical trial aimed at mitigating MS by using lab-engineer...

Sometimes, you can just look at someone and know how they're feeling. Our ability to "read people" is called social cognition. And we're learning that people living with MS can lose their social cognition skills, making every face-to-face interaction more difficult. My guest is Dr. Helen Genova, the Assistant Director of the Kessler Foundation's Center for Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Research, the Director of the Social Cognition and Neuroscience Laboratory at the Kessler Foundation, and an...

Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis means learning to live with a whole new set of challenges. Rising to meet those challenges and learning how to thrive in spite of those challenges is called resilience. But resilience isn't something that you're necessarily born with. Just like a muscle, resilience is something that you can choose to develop. My guest, Dr. Brandon Beaber, specializes in treating people living with MS and he's the author of Resilience in the Face of Multiple Sclerosis, a bo...

Fatigue isn't only a common symptom of MS; it's also one of the most disruptive symptoms of MS. It's hard to be out living life when you're trying to overcome that feeling of just not having any gas left in the tank. My guest is Dr. Ekaterina Dobryakova, a research scientist at the Kessler Foundation's Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research, where she conducts research in cognitive dysfunction caused by traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis. Dr. Dobryakova's research has shown that t...

My guest is Professor Helen Tremlett, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Neuroepidemiology and Multiple Sclerosis at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. Professor Tremlett has been involved in more than 200 published research studies, and we're going to talk about a few of them -- including the research that she's done on the correlation between MS disability progression and socioeconomic status. We're also talking about a study that indicates starting disease-modifyin...

The Charcot Award recognizes lifetime achievement in outstanding research into the understanding and treatment of MS. My guest is Professor Catherine Lubetzki, this year's recipient of the Charcot Award. Professor Lubetzki is being recognized for her very significant contributions to better understanding the underlying disease processes of MS, and her groundbreaking work in furthering our understanding of demylenation and remylenation. Professor Lubetzki is a professor of Neurology at Sorbonne ...

Welcome to Episode 100! In this special episode, we're talking with Jodi Michele Cooley, the winner of our "Be Our Special Guest on Episode 100" contest! At the age of 7, Jodi became an MS caregiver. And at the age of 34, she received her own MS diagnosis. In one way or another, MS has almost always been a part of Jodi's life. And yet, she is the very definition of the word "resilience." We're also re-visiting some of the best moments from some of our most popular interviews. You'll hear about ...

My guest is Jenny Freeman, Professor of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation at the University of Plymouth, in the United Kingdom. Professor Freeman's research has appeared in more than 150 journals and publications. And she's the co-author of Multiple Sclerosis Care -- A Practical Manual, the reference book for all aspects of MS care. We're going to be talking with Professor Freeman about the just-published results of a clinical trial that I think will add a very effective component to physical reh...

Do you ever wonder how or why your neurologist recommends one disease-modifying therapy instead of another? For some people, their first disease-modifying therapy is a mild drug with few side effects. For others, their first disease-modifying therapy might be a more high-powered drug that carries the risk of more possible side effects. But how do neurologists really know when it's appropriate to use one specific disease-modifying therapy or even when it's appropriate to switch to another? My gu...

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...