Episode 413: How AI Will Impact MS Patient Care with Dr. Brad Willingham
Release Date: 07/28/2025
Episode 437: Remembering David Mitchell
RealTalk MS
I don't have to remind anyone who listens to this podcast that the cost of MS disease-modifying therapies is obscenely high. And we're not just talking about relatively new medications. Older medications -- some decades old -- continue to increase in price without any rational explanation for why or how. On January 2nd, we lost a true warrior in the ongoing battle to lower the price of prescription drugs when David Mitchell, the founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, passed away. I met David in 2018 at a National MS Society Public Policy Conference, and he was a guest...
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Episode 436: 3 Questions Your Neurologist Should Be Asking Themselves with Dr. Leorah Freeman
RealTalk MS
Scientists are expanding our understanding of MS at an unprecedented pace. This week, Dr. Leorah Freeman discusses why, as new discoveries and medications enter clinical practice, neurologists and MS specialists should ask themselves 3 important questions when considering a patient's treatment plan. Dr. Freeman is the Director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also leads the MS and Neuroimmunology fellowship program and the MS Imaging and Outcomes Research Laboratory. We'll also tell you about...
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Episode 435: Revisiting ECTRIMS 2025 with Dr. Bruce Bebo and Kristine Werner Ozug
RealTalk MS
We're closing out the year by revisiting the most listened-to episode of RealTalk MS in 2025. And it shouldn't come as a major surprise that this year's most listened-to episode was our review of the largest MS research conference in the world, ECTRIMS. This episode features the annual conversation that I have with Dr. Bruce Bebo, right outside of the conference center, just minutes after ECTRIMS adjourns. Dr. Bebo is the Executive Vice President of Research at the National MS Society, and each year, he very generously closes out 3 days of nonstop meetings,...
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Episode 434: Revisiting Managing Menopause While You're Managing MS with Dr. Riley Bove
RealTalk MS
The holiday season gives me the opportunity to indulge in what's become a RealTalk MS tradition. I reserve the last two episodes in December to revisit the most popular conversations that I've had over the past year. Women represent two-thirds of the MS population. Yet, surprisingly, there isn't nearly enough data related to women's health issues and MS. With an estimated 300,000 women living with MS in the United States who are currently in peri- or post-menopause, researchers have started to focus on how menopause and MS interact, and the best ways to treat symptoms...
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Episode 433: Our Most Important Conversations of 2025 with Dr. John Corboy, Dr. Mikael Simons, Dr. John DeLuca, and Dr. Stehen Krieger
RealTalk MS
As the year draws to a close, we wanted to share some of the most compelling conversations we've had over the past 12 months. And rather than make my own picks, we went through the hundreds of emails we've received over the past year from the RealTalk MS listener community to see which topics really connected with you. In this week's episode, you'll hear from four of the top MS experts in the world discussing the subjects you've told me are most important to you. First, we'll explore aging and MS with Dr. John Corboy, the principal investigator of the largest study designed to answer...
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Special Episode: Guiding the Future of MS Care: MS21 Consensus Recommendations for Improving MS Care to Relieve the Burden of Disease
RealTalk MS
This special episode of RealTalk MS is sponsored by EMD Serono and is only intended for a U.S. audience. EMD Serono is the healthcare business of Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in the United States and Canada. Please note this episode is only intended for a U.S. audience. In this special episode of RealTalk MS, Professor Elisabeth Celius and Amanda Montague join me to explore new consensus recommendations for the future of MS care from MS in the 21st Century. We'll hear what experts and people in the MS community think are the priorities to focus on to improve care and help lessen the...
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Episode 432: Working With a Health & Wellness Coach with Amy Behimer
RealTalk MS
Michael Jordan never won an NBA championship until he was paired with the right coach. Then, he won six. Could working with a coach change your MS journey? In this week's episode, health & wellness coach Amy Behimer explains what health coaching is all about and how working with a coach might impact someone living with MS. We're also sharing study results that show DMTs fail to manage MS-related pain. Then, we'll explain how a common misconception can lead to the wrong outcome for someone with MS. And we'll share study results showing that adhering to the Mediterranean or MIND diet...
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Special Episode: I'm the First Participant in a CAR-T Cell Therapy Clinical Trial with Jan Janisch-Hanzlik
RealTalk MS
Welcome to a RealTalk MS special series on MS clinical trials. This special series is made possible through a generous grant from Sanofi. In this final episode of this series, you'll meet Jan Janisch-Hanzlik. Jan lives with MS and is a participant in one of the clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy for MS. In CAR-T cell therapy, blood is taken from the patient or a healthy donor, much as you would donate blood. This blood is sent to a lab, where the white blood cells, or T-cells, are separated out and reprogrammed to carry a receptor designed to...
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Episode 431: When a Teenager Becomes a Caregiver For a Parent With MS with Michaela Janssen Pohl
RealTalk MS
At the age of 14, Michaela Janssen Pohl became a caregiver for her mother, who lives with MS. I think most of us can agree that just being a teenager carries with it more than enough challenges. Those adolescent years are the years when just about everything in life starts changing. Imagine adding the responsibilities of being a caregiver to all the other things going on in a 14-year-old girl's life. Michaela joins me this week to explain how she found ways to survive and thrive in what can only be described as a challenging situation for any teenager. We'll also explain why you might want to...
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Episode 430: Navigating Winter Weather When You're Living with MS with Dr. James Stark
RealTalk MS
Almost everyone with MS is aware of their sensitivity to heat. But cold weather presents a whole different set of challenges that we don't always think about. This week, I'm talking with Dr. James Stark about safely navigating cold-weather conditions when you're living with MS. Dr. Stark is the Senior Attending Neurologist and Associate Medical Director at the International Multiple Sclerosis Management Practice. And he's sharing tips for staying safe and healthy when the temperature starts to drop. The FDA has just approved a new generic DMT, and the first biosimilar for MS is hitting...
info_outlineWe're witnessing the early stages of a paradigm shift, as artificial intelligence is beginning to impact virtually every aspect of healthcare, from research to patient care. And there's much, much more to come.
We'll also share the encouraging results from a Phase 2 open-label extension study for Fenebrutinib, an investigational disease-modifying therapy.
We'll tell you about study results that show exercise interventions that follow physical activity guidelines for MS can have a significant impact on MS-related depression.
And we're sharing the results of a study that illustrate what can happen when you delay starting a disease-modifying therapy.
We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??!
This Week: How AI will impact MS patient care :22
Fenebrutinib shows positive results after one-year extension study 1:33
MS-related depression can be significantly eased through exercise intervention that follows physical activity guidelines for MS 3:36
What happens when you delay starting disease-modifying therapy? 8:46
Dr. Brad Willingham discusses how artificial intelligence is impacting all aspects of healthcare 14:29
Share this episode 33:18
Have you downloaded the free RealTalk MS app? 33:38
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LINKS
If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com
Become an MS Activist
https://nationalmssociety.org/advocacy
STUDY: Safety and Efficacy of Fenebrutinib in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis (FENopta): A Multicentre, Double-Blind, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 2 Trial and Open-Label Extension
https://thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(25)00174-7/abstract?rss=yes
STUDY: Effects of Meeting Exercise Guidelines on Depression and Anxiety in Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09593985.2025.2518261
Exercise and Physical Activity Recommendations for ALL People with MS
https://nationalmssociety.org/news-and-magazine/news/exercise-and-physical-activity-recommend
STUDY: Delayed Access and Adherence are Real-World Challenges That Compromise Effectiveness of Natalizumab in Multiple Sclerosis
https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211034825003694
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RealTalk MS Episode 413
Guest: Dr. Brad Willingham