MS healthcare experts to gather at 38th CMSC meeting in Nashville

Renowned experts in multiple sclerosis (MS) healthcare, research, and advocacy will again gather at the annual meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), slated this year for May 29 to June 1.

The event, now in its 38th edition, will return to the Music City Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, the organizers said in a press release. It is geared toward MS healthcare professionals involved in the management of people with the neurodegenerative disease, and will include opening lectures from MS experts, as well as accredited symposia, courses, poster sessions, and education programs.

The content will be relevant to all MS healthcare professionals — with learning opportunities available for physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, rehabilitation specialists, advocates, and researchers, among others.

Early bird registration is open until April 30, but participants will be able to register until June 1 for a higher fee. The registration covers access to the conference program, exhibits, meals, networking forums, and most social events.

“MS is a complex and multi-faceted chronic illness, and healthcare professionals at the CMSC Annual Meeting will be immersed in the latest research findings as well as care strategies that can lead to optimal outcomes for patients and long-term disease management plans,” said June Halper, CEO of CMSC.

“This year’s program features some of the leading medical authorities in evolving areas of MS science, diagnosis and treatment,” Halper added.

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Speakers at the meeting’s lecture sessions include Darin Okuda, MD, a professor of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, in Texas, who will give the John F. Kurtzke Memorial Opening Lecture on May 29.

In a talk titled “Beyond the Surface: Challenging Our Perceptions of Multiple Sclerosis,” Okuda will discuss visual limitations and the value of MRI scans, a mainstay in the diagnosis of MS. Okuda will focus on how such scans can provide a deeper understanding of MS and related disorders.

The Presidential Lecture, titled “Multiple Sclerosis- 30 Years on From First Therapy: What Have We Learned,” will be given on May 30 by Fred Lublin, MD, professor of neurology at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the director of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS at Mount Sinai.

His lecture will cover recent achievements in MS research and care, including the approval of more than 20 MS therapies, advancement in disease diagnosis, better understanding of the mechanisms and features of MS, and worldwide collaborations between researchers, which have significantly improved the lives of people with MS. Lublin also will discuss how these advances are paramount to further improving MS treatments and finding a cure.

On May 31, Jeffrey Cohen, MD, director of the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, will give the Whitaker Lecture, titled, “Updates on Cellular Therapies for Multiple Sclerosis.” The lecture will discuss the latest advancements in cell therapies for MS.

There are a number of novel cell-based therapies that may be able to address the unmet needs of patients with highly active MS. Other new treatments may aid individuals who continue to experience disease relapses or new lesions on MRI scans despite the use of disease-modifying therapies.

Finally, the Donald Paty Lecture will be given on June 1 by Ann Yeh, MD, a professor of pediatrics neurology at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, and director of the MS and Neuroinflammatory Disorders Program at The Hospital for Sick Children.

During her talk, “Changing the Trajectory of Progression in Pediatric Onset MS,” she will discuss disease outcomes among children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis, and how new evidence is needed to demonstrate which approaches may improve prognosis for these patients. Yeh also will present data on several interventional strategies now being tested in this population.