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.
MS Trial Alert: Investigators Nationwide Recruiting People with All Types of MS for Early, Phase I Study to Determine Safety of Experimental Antibody
May 22, 2013
Summary: Investigators nationwide are recruiting 60 people with all types of MS for a phase I study to determine the safety and tolerability of rHIgM22, an experimental antibody. The study is funded by Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.
UPDATED: Clinical Trial Results Announced in Study of Peginterferon Beta-1a - Company Submits Application to FDA
May 21, 2013
Biogen Idec announced that a phase III study of peginterferon beta-1a, injected under the skin either every two or four weeks, reduced the relapse rate significantly more than placebo in a study of 1500 people with relapsing MS, reaching the primary goal of the study. Peginterferon is a new formulation of the interferon beta-1a molecule which enables it to maintain effects in the body for longer periods of time. More data from this ongoing study, also called the ADVANCE study, will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in March. According to a press release, the company is planning to file for regulatory approval in the United States and European Union in 2013.
Studies Report Progress Understanding What Drives Repair of the Brain’s Insulating Myelin, Which is Damaged by MS
May 08, 2013
Researchers at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and at Stanford, have reported separate studies making inroads to understanding factors that stimulate the repair of myelin, the nerve insulation that is a target of multiple sclerosis. These important laboratory discoveries, supported in part by the National MS Society, are still in early stages and need to be confirmed and expanded, but they could eventually lead to promising new therapeutic approaches to stimulating myelin repair to restore function in people with MS.