Impact for the MS Community

 

Our fellowship is designed to lead to direct short- and long-term benefits for the MS community. Multiple sclerosis is best treated by fellowship-trained specialists experienced in the comprehensive multidisciplinary management of the disorder. Currently, there are large regions of the United States without access to specialized MS care. Our multiple sclerosis fellowship has great potential to improve the lives of persons with multiple sclerosis by training MS specialists that can provide care to individuals with MS in these underserved areas. This will lead to an improvement in care for many persons with MS immediately after completion of the fellowship. We are aiming to provide the fellow with the appropriate skillset to create a new or advance an existing MS center by applying UF’s multidisciplinary and neurodisparity-focused patient care approach.  As the graduating fellows will build up their own MS centers throughout the United States, they will also start training future MS specialists themselves and have the potential to be of assistance to the National MS Society in their mission to improve the lives of persons with multiple sclerosis. During the fellowship, the fellow will be directly involved in resident education and patient outreach programs so that the fellow is well prepared to continue MS-specific education for medical professionals and the MS community with the goal to improve health literacy. Utilizing the results of the outcomes of the research projects conducted by the UF EMD Serono I’M IN  Neurodisparity fellows, we are planning to create a concise fact sheet for general neurologists to identify and address neurodisparities in Multiple Sclerosis care.