Last week, I was in Philadelphia, attending the Digital Tools Workshop hosted by the International Progressive MS Alliance. Welcome to Part One of our coverage! As we look around us, it's hard to imagine a single aspect of our lives that hasn't been impacted by the constant and rapid evolution of technology. Just consider the capabilities of the device you're using to listen to this podcast. This workshop highlighted the ways that emerging digital tools will accelerate MS clinical trials and enh...
Jun 30, 2025•39 min•Season 8Ep. 409
Have you experienced those familiar feelings of frustration when the people closest to you don't seem to get your MS? Do you find yourself explaining and re-explaining things to well-meaning friends, co-workers, and even family members? Kris Inman's wife, Mariah, was diagnosed with MS in 2020, and, since then, Kris has been Mariah's care partner and an active member of the MS community. This week, Kris joins me to talk about overcoming the challenge of helping your friends and family understand ...
Jun 23, 2025•31 min•Season 8Ep. 408
Getting a good night's sleep is something that benefits everyone. And if you're someone who's living with MS, it's perhaps even more important. But research suggests that more than half the people living with MS experience poor sleep. Dr. Katie Siengsukon, the Director of the Sleep, Health, and Wellness Lab at the University of Kansas Medical Center Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, returns to the podcast to discuss the importance of good sleep hygiene, along with steps ...
Jun 16, 2025•35 min•Season 8Ep. 407
Welcome to Part Two of our coverage of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers annual meeting! In this week's episode, Dr. John DeLuca shares research that has identified an effective behavioral treatment for MS-related fatigue. Dr. Brian Sandroff discusses how MS rehabilitation has evolved and then answers some of your questions about exercise and MS. And Kristine Werner Ozug, a member of the RealTalk MS team and someone who lives with MS, shares her perspective on the sessions and present...
Jun 09, 2025•33 min•Season 8Ep. 406
Last week in Phoenix, Arizona, the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) held its annual meeting, and we had a chance to talk with some of the top MS experts in the world. Welcome to Part One of our coverage! First, you'll hear Dr. Kathy Zackowski, the National MS Society's Associate Vice-President of Research, share her overview of the sessions and presentations that especially stood out to her. Then, you'll hear Dr. Stephen Krieger as he expands on one of the most interesting and pro...
Jun 02, 2025•34 min•Season 8Ep. 405
Every five minutes, someone somewhere in the world is diagnosed with MS. But getting that diagnosis can be challenging. And the evidence is clear that early intervention makes a difference. The sooner someone can begin a disease-modifying therapy, the better their outcome is going to be. World MS Day is May 30th, and this year, World MS Day is focused on eliminating the obstacles that get in the way of a timely and accurate diagnosis. I thought World MS Day would be the perfect time to invite Me...
May 26, 2025•26 min•Season 8Ep. 404
Last week, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis convened a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, to dive deeper into what a new framework for describing MS might look like. There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done here. But, considering that whatever language is eventually adopted will affect every person living with MS, I want to keep you fully informed on this important work. So I'm devoting this entire episode of...
May 19, 2025•37 min•Season 8Ep. 403
If you're living with MS, you might experience days when it feels like you're losing your sense of who you are, as your sense of self gets redefined by your symptoms. Reasserting your personal style can be a powerful way to rediscover joy in who you are while reclaiming your identity. Jeri Zink Denz lives with MS and works in the luxury fashion industry. She's always been passionate about fashion and personal style, and Jeri joins me to discuss how you can find and define your personal style, de...
May 12, 2025•31 min•Season 8Ep. 402
Most people living with MS don't see their neurologist often. For many, it might be only once or twice a year. A lot of important things take place during that appointment. Symptoms are assessed. Decisions about disease-modifying therapies are made or, sometimes, changed. Questions get asked and, hopefully, answered. Dr. Barbara Giesser returns to the podcast, this time, to review the things that should be discussed and followed up on at your appointment with your neurologist or MS specialist. W...
May 05, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 401
Welcome to the 400th episode of RealTalk MS! Over the past nearly eight years, it's been my absolute honor to bring you insights from leading experts, researchers, advocates, and, perhaps most importantly, from people living with MS themselves. And we have no intention of stopping here! We're excited to continue bringing you the information and conversations that matter most to the MS community. In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Tim Coetzee, President and CEO of the National MS Society, looks ...
Apr 28, 2025•35 min•Season 8Ep. 400
Research shows that spirituality can benefit mental health and improve overall well-being. And it can play a meaningful role in helping people cope with life’s challenges, like living with MS. This week, Dr. Mana Ali Carter, a rehabilitation psychologist at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington D.C., joins me to discuss the positive effects that spirituality can have on the mind and body, and how it's been shown to make a difference for people living with MS. We're also sharing ...
Apr 21, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 399
Last week, at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting, Dr. Amit Bar-Or received the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research for his multiple achievements that have advanced our knowledge of neuroimmunology, precision medicine, and biomarkers in MS. We talked with Dr. Bar-Or about how some of the latest discoveries in MS research would impact patient care. Tolebrutinib, an investigational disease-modifying therapy, is currently making its way through the FDA's regulatory proces...
Apr 14, 2025•24 min•Season 8Ep. 398
For many people, it can be difficult to talk about the feelings of loss that can accompany MS. For some, it's the loss of the way they imagined their life would turn out. For others, it's the more specific loss of function. Perhaps the loss of their mobility. Or a decline in their cognitive skills. It's painful to imagine any of these scenarios, let alone experience them in real life. The human response to loss is grief. And grieving itself can affect your physical, emotional, and cognitive heal...
Apr 07, 2025•36 min•Season 8Ep. 397
Managing MS means staying focused not only on your MS but also on your overall health. That includes getting routine health screenings to stay ahead of potential complications. Recent research has shown that, compared to healthy people, people with MS are more likely to develop some cancers. Clinician-scientist Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie joins me to discuss which cancers pose a greater risk to someone with MS, why you need to make those appointments for cancer screenings, where you can find low-cost or...
Mar 31, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 396
When you look at a list of the typical symptoms associated with perimenopause, you'd think you were looking at a list of MS symptoms. And, for women living with MS, that's where the confusion begins. With an estimated 30% of the current MS population now in peri- or post-menopause, researchers are beginning to focus on how menopause and MS interact and the best ways to treat symptoms. Dr. Riley Bove, a neurologist and founding director of the Sex and Gender-Enriched (SAGE) Neurology Program at t...
Mar 24, 2025•34 min•Season 8Ep. 395
Next week, a couple of hundred MS activists will gather in Washington, D.C. for the National MS Society's Public Policy Conference. As we're seeing devastating cuts in funding for MS research, layoffs in every major governmental agency that impacts our healthcare, including the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, CDC, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and even Medicaid funding is at serious risk, advocacy has never been more important than it is right now. I'...
Mar 17, 2025•27 min•Season 8Ep. 394
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Kristine Werner Ozug lives with MS and, full disclosure, she's a member of the RealTalk MS team. After the ACTRIMS Forum, Kristine shared her impressions of the conference. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??...
Mar 14, 2025•19 min
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Emanuelle Waubant is a neurologist who specializes in treating patients with MS, and she is the Director of the UCSF Regional Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. At the ACTRIMS Forum, we talked with Dr. Waubant about advances in...
Mar 14, 2025•9 min
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Mikael Simons is a neurologist and researcher at Technical University Munich and the Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Munich, Germany, and he's this year's recipient of the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research. At...
Mar 13, 2025•8 min
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Daniel Reich is a neurologist and neuroradiologist. He is the Director of the Translational Neuroradiology Section at the NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In his clinical practice, Dr. Reich cares for ...
Mar 13, 2025•6 min
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Christina Azevedo is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Southern California. At the ACTRIMS Forum, we talked with Dr. Azevedo about updates to the McDonald criteria, which are the criteria used to diagnose M...
Mar 12, 2025•8 min
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Peter Calabresi is the Director of the Division of Neuroimmunology and the Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, focusing on the diagnosis and management of MS. He is the principal investigator on s...
Mar 12, 2025•6 min
It's MS Awareness Week, and the National MS Society is asking everyone in the MS community to tell MS exactly what they think of it. We're kicking off MS Awareness Week by introducing you to two difference-makers in the MS community who have each found their own way of talking back to MS. Case Jernigan is an experimental animator, narrative gamemaker, and educator. His short animated documentary, Noggin , is currently making the rounds of the film festival circuit, raising awareness of how Case ...
Mar 10, 2025•38 min•Season 8Ep. 393
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Nara Michaelson is a Multiple Sclerosis Fellow at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital. We first talked with Dr. Michaelson last summer when her article, The Unraveling , was published in the journal, Neurology . At the ACTRI...
Mar 10, 2025•7 min
Just a couple of weeks ago, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Darin Okuda is the Director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Imaging Program, the Director of Neuroinnovation, and the Deputy Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program and Clinical Center for Multiple Sclerosis at U...
Mar 10, 2025•11 min
Last week, 1,800 scientists, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. I'm kicking off our coverage of this important conference by sharing two of the conversations I had at ACTRIMS 2025. First, I talked with Dr. Lilyana Amezcua about the Alliance for Research in Hispanic Multiple Sclerosis, and her just-published paper,...
Mar 03, 2025•23 min•Season 8Ep. 392
MS can limit your ability to get around and do the things you like to do. And when that happens, the right mobility device can be a game-changer when it comes to staying safe, staying active, and improving your quality of life. This week, Dr. Evan Cohen joins me to discuss how to know when it's time to consider a mobility device, and how to choose the right mobility device for you. We’re also presenting findings from two separate studies that shed significant light on how the gut microbiome inte...
Feb 24, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 391
This special episode of RealTalk MS is sponsored by Sanofi. By now, you may have come across the term smoldering MS and wondered what it means. An international panel of MS experts has published a consensus statement on the definition, biology, and clinical implications of smoldering MS. Joining me is the lead author of that paper, Dr. Antonio Scalfari. Dr. Antonio Scalfari has a research background in multiple sclerosis and neuro-inflammatory conditions. From 2003 to 2006, he was a clinical fel...
Feb 20, 2025•21 min
More than half of the people living with MS live with pain. And, too often, the distraction and discomfort of MS-related pain can stop you from fully engaging in every aspect of your life. Dr. Bianca Weinstock-Guttman joins me to discuss treatment options for managing MS pain. Dr. Weinstock-Guttman is a neurologist and professor of neurology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, where she also serves as the Director of the Jacobs Multiple Sclerosi...
Feb 17, 2025•31 min•Season 6Ep. 390
Living your best life with MS means learning to overcome the stigma of having a disability, successfully navigating social relationships, and learning how to ask for and accept help. Joining me to share their perspectives and their experiences in overcoming some of these social obstacles are Denise Schnieders, who was diagnosed with MS just about a year ago, and Fox Rigney, who's been living with MS since 2012. We're also applauding a forward-thinking caregiver leave benefit that's just been ann...
Feb 10, 2025•34 min•Season 8Ep. 389
