People with MS often experience mobility challenges and limitations, including difficulty walking, abnormal gait, loss of balance, fatigue and weakness. Fortunately, there are treatments and assistive devices available to help improve mobility. Current research around the world is investigating the ways we can more accurately measure and address mobility challenges to rehabilitate in a timely manner.

Hear from a panel of three researchers who are dedicated to finding ways to diagnose people’s individual challenges more quickly and accurately to intervene with solutions to help improve mobility – and ultimately, quality of life for people living with MS.

Catch up now!

Watch the webcast below and keep scrolling to read more about the host and expert panel.

To change the language of the subtitles, click the settings toggle in the bottom right corner to watch the video with Spanish, French, Italian and Arabic subtitles.

Webcast Panel

Panelists

Sarah Donkers, PT, PhD, is an Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan. She is a physiotherapist turned neuroscience researcher specialized in neurorehabilitation. In addition to her clinical experience, Dr. Donkers has conducted numerous studies investigating interventions to promote improvements in walking, balance, mobility, physical activity levels, symptom management, and neurorecovery for people living with multiple sclerosis. She is dedicated to improving the access to and quality of neurorehabilitation services.

Peter Feys, PhD, with a background in physiotherapy, is professor at the faculty of rehabilitation sciences at Hasselt University in Belgium. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in international clinical neurological and rehabilitation journals. His inter-disciplinary research is focused on rehabilitation for gait and upper limb function in predominantly persons with neurological conditions. It comprises investigations of walking motor fatigability, music-based entrainment and sonification, cognitive-motor interference, technology-supported training, upper limb functioning and community self-directed training. Neuroimaging is performed to understand the impact of interventions on neural function and structure. The research is mostly performed in persons with multiple sclerosis besides stroke and CP. He is part of the UMSC Hasselt-Pelt consortium.

Brad Willingham, PhD, is the Director of MS Research at Shepherd Center in the United States. His work focuses on the development of innovative strategies to expand accessibility and improve the precision of rehabilitation for people with MS. Dr. Willingham started his career in rehabilitation working as an Exercise Physiologist at Shepherd Center. Through this clinic experience, he became interested in scientific questions that could guide evidence-based care and developed research collaborations that led him to complete his PhD in Physiology at the University of Georgia. Before returning to Shepherd Center in 2021, Dr. Willingham spent four years serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health where he received advanced training in neuromuscular physiology and biotechnology.

Host 

Candice Maenza, PhD, is a neuroscientist by training and is currently the Managing Director of the Neuromechanics in Translational Rehabilitation Program at Penn State College of Medicine in the United States. After completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Lock Haven University in 2012, she started working as a Research Coordinator in the Neurorehabilitation Laboratory at Penn State College of Medicine. She continued working in the lab as the Laboratory Manager while completing her Master of Science and PhD in Kinesiology at Penn State University. During her first year of graduate school in 2016, she lost her vision, followed by ger sensation and mobility, and was subsequently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Since then, she has taken on roles of both a neuroscientist studying MS and a patient advocate with a goal of using research methods to benefit and educate patients.

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 organizations, researchers, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies, foundations, donors and people affected by MS. Our promise is more than hope; it is progress.

Catch-up on the previous Alliance webcasts here