CMSC 2026: Milestone meeting highlights 40 years of MS care
Organization's CEO wants multidisciplinary care to become the norm
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CMSC is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. (Image from iStock)
- The CMSC annual meeting promotes multidisciplinary care for MS, uniting various healthcare professionals.
- Significant progress in diagnosis and treatment has occurred over 40 years, with more than 20 approved therapies.
- Challenges include uneven access to care, high costs, and workforce shortages.
Leaders in multiple sclerosis (MS) research and care are preparing to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Consortium of MS Centers (CMSC) annual meeting, with this year marking the organization’s 40th anniversary.
Multiple Sclerosis News Today sat down with the consortium’s CEO, Kathleen Costello, to discuss the role of the annual event in advancing multidisciplinary care for people with MS and how she’s seen the field evolve over the last four decades.
It’s “almost unbelievable” how much progress has been made in MS care, Costello said. “And then the best thing about it is it keeps moving. There’s still enthusiasm.”
Costello, a certified nurse practitioner, is also the CEO of the International Organization of MS Nurses (IOMSN). She has worked in the MS field for decades, and first became involved with the CMSC in the early 1990s.
“I’ve been very honored to be able to participate in the care of thousands of people who live with MS,” Costello said. To now be at the helm of the CMSC is “both very humbling and profoundly meaningful,” she said.
Multidisciplinary care aims to ‘bring it all together’
The CMSC aims to unite healthcare professionals in support of multidisciplinary care models for MS that go beyond the neurologist. The organization recognizes that many people — nurses, dietitians, rehabilitation specialists, mental health professionals, and others — are needed to address the many, unique needs of people living with the neurodegenerative disease.
Costello says that while multidisciplinary care exists, access to it is uneven. In some places, it’s difficult even to find a neurologist. Other places have care providers across several disciplines, but they may not have MS expertise. There may also not be a system in place to integrate and coordinate care across specialties.
The real goal is to “bring it all together for the benefit of each individual person,” Costello said. “I think that exists in some places but not others. I think it’s in more places than it used to be, but it’s not universal, and that’s a frustration, both for providers and certainly … people who live with MS and their care partners.”
Costello said she and others with the CMSC want to see multidisciplinary care becoming “the norm and not the exception,” with an MS workforce that is “consonant, … connected, and continuously inspired.”
While Costello acknowledges this may seem a “pretty bold vision,” she believes it is not out of reach. “This is something attainable, if we continue to work towards it,” she said.
The CMSC annual meeting is in direct service of that mission. The meeting is unique in that it treats every healthcare discipline as equally important, each with a vital piece of expertise that’s needed to successfully care for MS patients, according to Costello.
“This is to help all MS healthcare providers understand the need for expertise across the multidisciplinary spectrum and to incorporate these professions into the care of their patients,” Costello said. “To have them all together in one place provides that integration and that ability to connect and learn from one another.”
This year’s meeting will cover a range of topics including new diagnostic criteria, nutrition, mental health, cell therapies, advanced MS, and disease biomarkers. Costello said she looks forward to the International Symposium on Gait and Balance, which this year will focus on exercise and safety for wheelchair users with MS.
There will also be sessions on less common MS-related diseases, including neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease.
The meeting aims to amplify the patient voice as well. Kicking off the event will be the red-carpet world premiere of the documentary “Because I Can,” developed by Allié McGuire, who lives with MS. The film is supported by the National MS Society and directed by Emmy award winner Bill McCullough.
The documentary is “a story about resilience and moving forward in the face of a devastating diagnosis,” Costello said.
The meeting will include a patient panel featuring people with MS and related diseases, who will speak with healthcare providers about the diagnostic process and their everyday lives.
“In our clinics, it’s very difficult to have the time to really dig into this lived experience,” Costello said. It’s “profoundly important” for care providers to hear these stories because it can change how they approach making care decisions, she said.
While the meeting is primarily targeted at healthcare providers, it includes a free, one-day patient program, More About MS, hosted by Can Do MS on May 29.
Healthcare providers will speak on topics such as MS disease biology and progression, and a panel will discuss how patients can improve their brain health. There will be workshops about managing fall risk and invisible MS symptoms, and a session will be specifically directed to caregivers, who have needs that are “equally important as the person who’s living with the disease,” Costello said.
The day will wrap up with a happy hour where participants can mingle with each other, the speakers, and other healthcare providers. Costello expects more than 100 people to participate in the program, but the organization won’t limit attendance. Those interested are encouraged to sign up.
Faster diagnosis, more options
Looking back, Costello has seen significant progress in MS care since CMSC’s founding in 1986.
Diagnostic delays have been substantially shortened by the use of MRI technology. The field has grown from one approved MS therapy in 1993 to more than 20 today, with options that can actually slow the progression of the disease. Scientists now know much more about why MS happens and which biomarkers can be used to monitor patients.
“That’s just a quick overview of what has gone on in 40 years,” Costello said. “It’s really been quite remarkable, both in terms of diagnosis, treatments, care, research, and expertise.”
Yet challenges remain, particularly regarding the availability and access to care. Costello noted that cost is an “enormous access barrier,” with insurance premiums, deductibles, and prescription costs rising year after year. Recent governmental policy changes could also make it more difficult to access affordable care, she said.
“These are frightening gaps … and really the only way to change this is through our strong and persistent advocacy efforts,” Costello said, pointing to the National MS Society as a leader of the charge. “We hope that the combined voices are helpful in convincing policymakers that some of these changes are really harmful, and that to go back to looking at the need for access to comprehensive and affordable care is absolutely paramount,” she added.
Ensuring there’s enough clinical expertise in MS is also key. Across the U.S., there are not enough neurology providers to meet the population’s needs, and fewer people are entering healthcare professions such as nursing, according to Costello.
As part of its 40th anniversary campaign, the CMSC is raising money for its June Halper MS Workforce of the Future Fund. The fund is named for Costello’s predecessor as CEO of CMSC and IOMSN. Costello cites Halper, who died in 2024, as an important mentor in her MS career.
The fund aims to support training that provides physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals with expertise in MS care.
“It becomes our responsibility as providers in the current day to ensure a well-educated workforce of the future,” Costello said. “I believe that this [fund] is literally critical to ensure that people have the care that they deserve.”
Reflecting on four decades of CMSC and a career dedicated to MS care, Costello said, “I think there’s much work to be done. We’ve done an awful lot in 40 years, but it doesn’t end here, right?”
“We need to keep this momentum and progress moving forward, and we look to everyone involved in this MS ecosystem to contribute to the present and also to the future,” she said.
Note: The Multiple Sclerosis News Today team is providing live coverage of the Consortium of MS Centers Annual Meeting, May 27-29. Go here to see the latest stories from the meeting.
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