In 2008 MSIF McDonald Fellowships were awarded to three promising young MS researchers from emerging countries enabling them to carry out 2 year research projects in MS centres of excellence.

Georgina Arrambide

Georgina a neurologist from the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City, Mexico will travel to the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, where she will investigate biological prognostic factors in patients with clinically isolated syndromes suggestive of multiple sclerosis. She will be supervised by Prof. Xavier Montalban. Upon returning to Mexico, Georgina hopes to improve the organisation of the demyelinating diseases clinic at the Institute of Neurology in Mexico, and help the clinic become a reference centre in Mexico for biological markers in CIS.

Yaou Liu

The fellowship will enable Yaou a neuroradiologist from Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, to carry out a 2 year research project at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia where he will be supervised by Dr Helmut Butzkueven and Prof. Peter Mitchell. He will be investigating use of a serum phosphorylated neurofilament H (pNF-H) as a biomarker of axonal injury with clinical and MRI correlations in MS. On his return to China, Yaou plans to create a larger MS research group in Xuanwu hospital, maintain and enhance collaboration between the two hospitals in Melbourne and China and ultimately facilitate the creation of a National MS society of China.

Andrea Mike

Andrea a neurologist from the University of Pécs in Hungary, will travel to the Center for Neurological Imaging (CNI), Brigham and Womens’ Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, where she will investigate MRI correlates of deficits in social cognition in multiple sclerosis under the supervision of Dr. C. Guttmann. When she returns to Hungary, Andrea plans to expand the MS research spectrum in her department and improve daily care in the hospital by introducing new neuroimaging methods to increase quality of research. She also hopes to establish and maintain a professional collaboration between the University of Pécs and CNI.