MSIF awarded three McDonald Fellowships in 2011 to promising young MS researchers from emerging countries enabling them to carry out two-year research projects in MS centres of excellence.

Amir-Hadi Maghzi

Amir-Hadi, a medical intern at University hospitals, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran will use the McDonald fellowship to travel to the USA to perform the analysis of MRI, OCT and mfVEP outcome measures in a phase II clinical trial of Riluzole in multiple sclerosis patients, and to undertake training in design and conduct of clinical trials. This will take place under the supervision of Professor Daniel Pelletier at the Yale School of Medicine and Professor Emmanuelle Waubant at the University of California, San Francisco. Amir-Hadi plans to return to Iran in order to enter a neurology residency programme.

Erika Santos Horta

Erika Santos, a neuroimmunology research fellow at the General Hospital of the Medicinal School of Ribeirão Preto at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, will study the relationship between cobalamine (Vitamin B12) deficiency and multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica under the supervision of Professor Vanda A. Lennon at the Mayo clinic Neuroimmunology Laboratory. After completing her McDonald fellowship Erika Santos plans to return to a faculty position at Ribeirão Preto medical school hospital, and to establish a diagnostic laboratory aiding the diagnosis of autoimmune neurological disorders.

Sabah Mozafari

Sabah Mozafari, a postgraduate researcher at the Department of Physiology of Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, Iran, will work at INSERM, Centre de recherché de l’institute du cerveau et de la moelle épinière, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France, under the supervision of Professor Anne Baron-Van Evercooren. Her project involves characterization of Neural Precursors derived from Human iPS Cells: in vitro and in vivo after transplantation into the demyelinated CNS. Following her McDonald fellowship, Sabah plans to return to Iran to apply the techniques learned to research in the Royan Institute in Tehran; to join the Iranian MS Association; continue a collaboration with Dr. Sahraian in Sina Hospital, and to develop further collaborations with other MS centres in Iran.