Optimism and Hope in 2022 for the MS Community

January 2022 the results of a study provided the strongest evidence yet for the role of Epstein-Barr Virus in triggering Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Researchers at Harvard and their collaborators reported on a study published in Science that provides the strongest evidence to date that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a trigger for multiple sclerosis. The study suggests that vaccines against the virus could help prevent multiple sclerosis! To learn more about this study visit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website. Dr. Svetlana Eckert, Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neurology, UBMD Neurology Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences can discuss the recent findings on the role of Epstein Barr Virus and MS. To schedule an interview with Dr. Eckert please contact Penny Pennington at 716-343-2810.

MS can be especially active in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to experience more relapses, greater disability, and to require mobility assistance earlier in the disease course than Caucasians. Locally UB’s Jacobs MS Center is focusing on addressing the healthcare disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of MS through the MS Disease Awareness and Management Program. Dr. Channa Kolb Assistant Professor at the Department of Neurology Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is working with this program. To schedule an interview with Dr. Eckert please contact Penny Pennington at 716-343-2810.

Happening in our community this month:

Thanks to the City of Buffalo and the office of Mayor Brown, Buffalo City Hall will be illuminated orange on March 13 in honor of MS Awareness month.

Thanks to the Jacobs School Of Medicine And Biomedical Sciences the light tower in the atrium lobby will be illuminated orange on March 14th all day in honor of MS Awareness month. In 2015, UB’s Medical School became known as the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences — the first school naming in UB history — in recognition of the Jeremy M. Jacobs family’s longstanding philanthropy and service to UB. Mr. Jeremy Jacobs credits his late brother, Lawrence Jacobs, MD — a longtime chair of UB’s Department of Neurology and a world-renowned multiple sclerosis researcher — for teaching him about the important, centralized role of schools of medicine in medical communities.

The dominant feature of the lobby, serving to draw people into the building, is the light tower constructed from opaque glass. It has an internal lighting system that allows colors to shine through. The lobby and light tower are visible to Metro passengers who traverse the building’s internal corridor from the station to Conventus and other buildings in BNMC.

More about MS and the MS Society:

The National MS Society does whatever it takes to change the world for people with MS. Explore their powerful stories and PSA at https://www.nationalmssociety.org/ThisIsMS

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis, and there is currently no cure for MS. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS. An estimated 1 million people live with MS in the United States. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and it affects women three times more than men.