2021 McDonald Fellowships and Du Pré Grant recipients announced
MSIF is proud to announce the recipients of the 2021 McDonald Fellowships and Du Pré Grants, from Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia
Last updated: 22nd November 2021
McDonald Fellowship recipients 2021
The McDonald Fellowships enable young researchers from low- and middle-income countries to work in a research institution outside their own country, with a view to returning to their country to establish an MS research program involving the application of their newly learned techniques.
Dr Sara Salama is a consultant neurologist (MD/PhD) from Egypt. She will visit Prof Ahmed Toosy at UCL, to work on a project titled ‘Longitudinal OCT-MRI correlations in MS (LOCuTuS-MRI) – A multi-center IMSVISUAL international collaborative project’. This Fellowship is sponsored by our partner, ARSEP, the Fondation d’Aide pour la Recherche sur la Sclerose en Plaques (ARSEP).
Dr Carolina de Medeiros Rimkus is a medical doctor and researcher in the University of São Paulo,Brazil, who will go to Menno M Schoonheim’s group at Amsterdam University Medical Center (AUMC) in the Netherlands. She will work on a project titled “MRI and brain network fingerprints of cognitive profiles in multiple sclerosis”. This Fellowship is sponsored by our partner ECTRIMS, the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS).
Dr Evelyn Heck from Argentina will join Prof Francisco Quintana in Boston, USA, at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to study the molecular mechanisms of the relationship between Epstein-Barr Virus persistent in B cells and the development of MS.
We are tremendously grateful for the support and continued partnership of ARSEP and ECTRIMS. Without them, these fellowships would not be possible.
The third McDonald Fellowship is due to the success of The May 50K campaign, raising funds for MSIF’s global initiatives in research and access.
2021 Award winners, Sara Salama, Carolina de Medeiros Rimkus, and Evelyn Heck
2021 Du Pré Grant recipients
Dr Reza Naemi is a medical intern and researcher from Iran, who will join Dr Jason Plemel at the Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, studying Reactive oxygen species as a novel age-associated inhibitor of remyelination.
Dr Amira Souissi is a neurologist from Tunisia, who will join 2019 Charcot Award winner Prof Catherine Lubetzki in Paris, to work on a project titled “Is progressive Multiple Sclerosis more severe among North Africans? Both genetics and environmental factors matter”.
Daissy Liliana Mora Cuervo is a PhD student at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil, who will go to Berlin, Germany, to join Prof Paul Friedemann at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin to study “RENOVA – REmyelination and Neuro-Ophtalmological Visual Assessments in Multiple Sclerosis”.
