Past Episodes

Robots?? Really??? The answer is YES! World renowned robotics expert Dr. Maja Mataric joins us on the podcast, and we're talking about how socially assistive robots could be real game-changers for people living with MS and other chronic conditions, as well as their caregivers. We're also talking about the $24.4 million investment by the National MS Society that will support 64 new MS research projects. We'll tell you about the research team at Oregon Health & Science University that believes th...

We're at a point in time when there's a tremendous amount of interest as well as confusion surrounding cannabis-based treatments for MS. My guest is Aryn Sieber, the CEO and Founder of the CannaCauses Foundation and Cannaisseur Brands. Aryn is a strong advocate of using cannabis-derived treatments to help relieve symptoms of disease processes, particularly MS. And he's partnered with MS centers and neurologists to better understand how cannabis-based treatments can help people manage their MS s...

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...

March 28th is Progressive MS Day. While only about 15% of the people diagnosed with MS are initially given a diagnosis of Primary Progressive MS, about 65% of the people who are diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS will eventually develop Secondary Progressive MS. And the difference between progressive MS and relapsing-remitting MS is that, usually, people diagnosed with Progressive MS don't experience any remission in their disease progression. Their MS just seems to worsen more steadily over ...

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...

Over the past year, we've seen our access to affordable, quality healthcare come under unprecedented attack. We've seen a federal judge declare the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional. And we continue to see our access to affordable prescription medications -- the medications that have been shown to delay the progression of MS and extend the quality of life for everyone living with MS -- that access remains threatened by the constant skyrocketing cost of those medications. That's why advo...

One of the best ways to maintain physical function, manage the effect of some MS symptoms, and even offset depression is exercise. My guest is Dr. Deborah Backus, the director of Multiple Sclerosis Research at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. We're discussing the importance of early rehabilitation, the difference that exercise can make for people living with MS, and STEP FOR MS -- an important clinical trial that may turn out to be a game-changer for MS rehabilitation. We're also talking about w...