UCSF Wins Grant for Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) awarded UCSF Children's Hospital an initial $365,000 grant to establish the first pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) center west of the Rockies. Only one center currently exists -- in Stony Brook, NY -- that is dedicated to children with MS, a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system. The MS society plans to launch five other centers in addition to the one at UCSF, which is slated to open its doors in January 2006. The UCSF center will be part of a network of centers across the United States that will work to improve the clinical care of the underdiagnosed disease and develop future MS research, according to Dorothee Chabas, a UCSF pediatric neurologist and co-investigator of the grant. Since MS is rare in children, pediatric patients are often referred to UCSF's adult UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center. With the new pediatric center, UCSF hopes to establish a regional clinic providing specialized care for patients under age 18. The center will work closely with the adult UCSF MS center to promote a smooth transition for patients when they become adults. The pediatric center will include educational and research activities, Chabas said. The educational program will involve the development of educational tools for patients, families, community providers and other members of the health care team in collaboration with other pediatric MS programs supported by and affiliated with NMSS. Collaborators in the UCSF center include pediatric neurologists Donna Ferriero and Jonathan Strober, as well as neurologists Daniel Pelletier and Emmanuelle Waubant, who treat adult patients. Others include Jim Barkovich, radiologist; Mary Crittenden, clinical psychologist; Kimberly Erlich, nurse practitioner in Child Neurology; Andrew High, informatics manager of the Pediatric Clinical Research Center; and Jorge Oksenberg, a researcher in genetics and immunology. Source: Kim Wong Links: National Multiple Sclerosis Society UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center