Watch the global webcast: Putting people with MS at the centre of research

People affected by MS have been at the heart of the International Progressive MS Alliance since its beginning. In fact, a critical element to the Alliance’s strategy is to amplify the voices and roles of people affected by MS.

The Alliance’s people affected by MS engagement coordination team participates in all aspects of the Alliance, including reviewing research grant applications. In order to ensure that people affected by MS stay at the forefront of Alliance-funded research, the team decided to develop and implement a set of principles on the engagement of people affected by MS in Alliance research, which could also serve as a model for MS research​ worldwide.

This webcast explores the Principles of Patient Engagement and how the Alliance is implementing them as a requirement of Alliance-funded research. The panel includes people affected by MS who were involved in the development of these principles, the head of clinical trials at the MS Society in the United Kingdom, and an investigator who is putting the principles into action in his current research project.

The International Progressive MS Alliance Webcasts are sponsored by Sanofi and Genentech.

MSIF’s work to promote the activities of the International Progressive MS Alliance is made possible by grants from Merck, Novartis, Roche and Sanofi. 

Catch-up now!

Webcast Panel

Panelists

Marie Vaillant is a member of the International Progressive MS Alliance’s People with MS Engagement Coordination Team and Scientific Steering Committee. Marie was diagnosed with MS in 1996, and has served as a volunteer for MS Canada, and as a board member for the MS International Federation. In her role on the Progressive MS Alliance, Marie participates in the review of research proposals, and helped lead a team that developed the Principles of Patient Engagement in MS Research. She hopes to speed up the process of finding new MS treatments and ways to improving well-being.

Emma Gray, PhD, is the Assistant Director of Research at the MS Society in the UK, and responsible for leading the organization’s ground-breaking programme of clinical trials. She is inspired by the current potential of MS research.

Dr. Gray has served as a post-doctoral researcher at the MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research at King’s College London, where she also gained her PhD in molecular neuroscience.

Stefano Pluchino, MD, PhD, Stefano Pluchino is Clinical Professor of Regenerative Neuroimmunology and Honorary Consultant in Neurology, within the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK. The Pluchino team studies whether the accumulation of neurological disability observed in patients with chronic inflammatory neurological conditions can be slowed down using next generation molecular therapies. Stefano Pluchino is best known for having provided compelling evidence in support of the feasibility and efficacy of advanced stem cell therapies in rodent and non-human primate models of inflammatory neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis.

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Host

Cory Turner serves on the Alliance’s People Affected by MS Engagement Team and on the Research Foundation of the MS Society of Canada. His involvement began after his diagnosis in 2005, when he reached out to the Canadian Society to contribute, which led to his being recruited to join the Alliance in 2019. His main focus is on research review. Cory has been involved in the development of the Alliance’s strategic plan, as well as the Principles of Patient Engagement. He is proud to be a “living, breathing voice of MS,” and believes people with MS can take comfort in knowing that they are being represented in research in a sincere way.

About the International Progressive MS Alliance

The International Progressive MS Alliance is a first-of-its-kind global research network aimed at accelerating the development of new, effective treatments for progressive MS. We are rallying the world through an unprecedented collaboration of MS organisations, researchers, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies, foundations, donors and people affected by MS. Our promise is more than hope; it is progress.