Thinking, Hands, and MS!
ECTRIMS 2016 (European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS) produced lots of stories with exciting headlines about advances in MS research — and hopefully you read many of them here at MS…
Engaging Thoughts
— Laura Kolaczkowski
Laura Kolaczkowski comes from Beavercreek, Ohio, and worked at the University of Dayton for over 25 years until MS challenged her enough to go onto full-time disability. She is active in the MS community on multiple levels, and writes for her own personal blog, InsideMyStory and as a patient expert for MultipleSclerosis.net. Laura is the Lead Patient Representative and co-principal investigator for iConquerMS™, a patient powered MS research network. Laura freely admits her Liberal Arts background fuels her interest in patient engagement and empowerment and she struggles with the science of MS.
Featured Post
My Travel Tips for Those with MS Mobility Problems
I love to travel and see new sights, but my multiple sclerosis (MS) mobility problems present particular challenges. Over time I have accumulated my own set of travel tips. Perhaps some of the…
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Laura Kolaczkowski -- Engaging Thoughts
EpiPen and MS Drugs
If only we were cherub faced children, then perhaps someone would have listened to us in the past few years as we voiced concern and then outrage over the escalating costs of our MS…
Lack of Diversity Hurts MS Studies
The importance of getting a representative group of people, also known as subjects, engaged in clinical trials cannot be understated. There is so much that we need to know when it comes to…
The Doctor Doesn’t Always Know Best
There was an almost audible gasp in the room as I was making a presentation recently at a multiple sclerosis talk. What did I say that was so shocking? I merely said – if…
Wait! Here’s a Pill for Your MS
Most of us with MS rely on pharmacological assistance to make it through the day. I know taking pills by the handful is the regimen of many people, whether they are sick with…
HSCT as MS Therapy: An American’s Tale
Karen Staman and I met a while back through a National Institute of Health and Duke University research collaborative effort. She is a scientific writer by trade, which means she sits through lots…
REAL MS Research Needs You
You want to help find answers about multiple sclerosis but don’t know how, and I hear your frustration about being unable to contribute in meaningful ways. Let me share with you the…
Hospitality Care Service for Clinical Trial Participants
This idea is so simple. But it has been overlooked for years until the partners of Gray Consulting, a Philadelphia firm, connected the dots and developed a better way to engage and retain…
FICO Enters Healthcare Arena with Treatment Adherence Scores
Do you take your drugs as they are prescribed? It turns out a lot of us don’t and that is a concern to the people in charge of our healthcare dollars. The California Association…
MS BLOG: Sort Anecdotal Claims, Real Science Before Research Treatments
Can we all agree that research studies are important and they are necessary to prove whether a concept works or it doesn’t? Even from the biggest failures, we can learn more. We can also…
Phase 1 Clinical Trials – An Early, But Key Step, in Drug-approval Process
We wait in anticipation for multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs to clear Phase 3 clinical trials and get to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval, but I honesty knew little of the process…
Patient Recruitment for Clinical Trials: Something To Chew On
This chewing gum handout in the exhibit area of the recent Drug Information Association (DIA) 2016 meeting says it all from the pharmaceutical company perspective – recruiting patients for their studies is often a…
