Rhonda Voskuhl, MD: A Bedside to Bench to Bedside Approach in MS

"I think the role of clinicians seeing patients and patients reporting how they feel and what they think makes a difference, I think we really need to listen and try to figure it out."

At the Americans Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) annual meeting held in Dallas, Texas, Rhonda Voskuhl, MD, presented an annual lecture named in honor of the late Kenneth Johnson, MD, who spearheaded the foundation of the meeting. The lecture provides attendees an opportunity to hear from a prestigious clinician or researcher selected for their knowledge, accomplishments, and contributions related to the field.

At the meeting, NeurologyLive had the opportunity to sit with Voskuhl for an interview to discuss her current laboratory research as well as other topics such as the importance of the role of a clinician.

The professor in UCLA’s Department of Neurology and Director of the UCLA MS Program described her research as ‘bedside to bench to bedside’ meaning that clinical observations are used as a basis for investigation of relevant biological mechanisms of action in basic science; the information is then applied in a clinical setting, typically through the design of a clinical trial.