BUFFALO, N.Y. – African Americans living with multiple sclerosis, as well as their families, are invited to join the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo when it hosts the inaugural Black MS Summit: Keys to Living Your Best with MS on Saturday, April 13.
Described by organizers as “a day of education, empowerment and community,” the summit is free and open to the public.
The Black MS Summit will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, in the Active Learning Center of the Jacobs School, 955 Main St., Buffalo. Registration is required and check-in opens at 8:15 a.m. Free valet parking will be accessible in front of the High Street entrance.
To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ubs-black-ms-summit-keys-to-living-your-best-with-ms-tickets-855602779947?aff=oddtdtcreator
or contact Penny Pennington at 716-343-2810 or pennypen@buffalo.edu.
Organized by the Jacobs MS Center for Treatment and Research, housed in the Department of Neurology in the Jacobs School, the summit is targeted to Black individuals living with multiple sclerosis (MS) and related disorders.
Topics include:
- Health care disparities in MS.
- Role of lifestyle in MS disease self-management.
- Nutrition keys to living your best with MS.
- Healthy living through ACTIVE lifestyle.
- Food as medicine.
- Community approach to maintaining ACTIVE Lifestyle.
- Patient diversity in MS research.
The increased severity of MS disease that can be seen in African Americans was documented based on magnetic resonance imaging findings and published over a decade ago by Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology, and UB colleagues.
More recently, Guttman and her team have implemented an MS Health Equity Program, with funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, that has focused on overcoming barriers to early diagnosis and optimum disease management through physician and patient educational programs.
