We don’t know when the cure for MS will come, but we know we need a continuous stream of highly trained scientists and physicians to search for it and to make sure it gets to people with MS.
The National MS Society funds different fellowship programs that allow young men and women to train with seasoned MS scientists and physicians in laboratories and MS clinics, and ease their transitions into independent careers. Often these fellows are the hands doing the experiments and providing the first line of care for patients.
These relatively small awards pay off well: Prominent researchers making MS breakthroughs today began their careers as Society trainees, and the Society’s investment in fellowship awards has leveraged at least $400 million over the years in MS grant funding from all sources.
Read more about how these programs have served as a great investment in the future of MS research and care.
Training Grants and Fellowships
To attract and train promising investigators and clinicians, we offer the following research and clinical care training programs:
- Postdoctoral Fellowships: Young investigators conducting research under the mentorship of senior scientists.
- Sylvia Lawry Physician Fellowships: Training doctors to conduct MS clinical trials.
- NMSS-AAN MS Clinician Scientist Development Award: Support for young neurologists to receive training in MS clinical research.
- Career Transition Fellowships: Advancing promising fellows into full faculty positions.
- Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar Awards: Five years of support for talented professors starting their careers as independent MS researchers.
- Mentor-Based Postdoctoral Fellowship In Rehabilitation Research: Support for a mentor-institution to train clinician scientists to conduct MS-specific rehabilitation research.
- The Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care Physician Fellowships Program : Training neurologists or physiatrists in specialized MS clinical care.
- John Dystel Fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis: Advanced training in MS nursing care.
Latest results about emerging MS therapies, risk factors, disease mechanisms, rehabilitation, CCSVI, and much more presented at AAN Meeting
May 16, 2012
Nearly 12,000 neurologists and investigators convened in New Orleans in April to present findings at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting. Over 500 scientific presentations and display posters focused on research to stop MS, restore function, and end MS forever. The MS sessions were often standing-room only, and appear to get bigger every year. Among these were the latest results from pivotal clinical trials of emerging MS therapies, possible risk factors, underlying disease mechanisms, rehabilitation approaches, CCSVI, and much more.
Small Study Reports Benefit of Marijuana on MS Spasticity
May 14, 2012
A small clinical trial by California investigators found some benefit of smoked marijuana against spasticity (muscle tightness and spasms) and pain in people with MS. Participants also experienced significantly reduced thinking ability after smoking marijuana, highlighting the need for research on cannabis products or other treatments that can more selectively reduce painful symptoms without producing adverse effects on cognitive function. Additional research examining the effects of marijuana on spasticity in MS is being supported by the National MS Society and others. The current study was published online on May 14, 2012 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Speeding Clinical Trials for People with Progressive MS: Outcomes Published from an International Workshop on MS Disability Measurement Tools
May 11, 2012
Disease progression, or gradual worsening, experienced by people who have multiple sclerosis usually occurs over many years, and it is difficult to track with the standard clinical measurement scales used by doctors to assess disease activity. An international meeting was convened to determine how to improve clinical measures so that MS progression can be better tracked, especially during clinical trials of experimental therapies aimed at stopping progression. Better ways of measuring changes in disability will help to speed the development of new therapies for MS, in particular for progressive forms of the disease.