is the only Partner in MS Care in Louisville and western Kentucky.

“It takes a variety of medical and non-medical professionals to empower patients with multiple sclerosis and their families,” said David Robertson, MD, who leads the and is an assistant professor in the UofL Department of Neurology. “The MS Society has a variety of resources for patients that we cannot offer through the University of Louisville. In any situation when you find a person or an institution that does good work in a responsible way, it is worth developing a mutually beneficial relationship that ultimately benefits the patients.”

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body. Symptoms vary from person to person and range from numbness and tingling to walking difficulties, fatigue, dizziness, pain, depression, blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with two to three times more women than men diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide.

“We are so proud to partner with the University of Louisville Physicians to enhance coordinated, comprehensive care for the people who live with MS in Louisville, Ky.,” said David Haddock of the National MS Society, Mid South. “In earning this recognition, the University of Louisville has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in MS care, making a tremendous impact on people affected by MS in our community.”

The society’s Partners in MS Care program recognizes committed providers whose practices support the Society’s initiative of affordable access to high quality MS health care for everyone living with MS – regardless of geography, disease progression and other disparities.

“We treat all of our patients differently because MS treats all of our patients differently,” said Jacinta Lockard, coordinator for the Neuroimmunology Clinic at the UofL Physicians MS Center. “We have access to many different resources for our patients, and the National MS society is a big part of that.”

The UofL Physicians MS Center includes experts who can address all of a patient’s needs, including medical care, physical/occupational/speech therapies, neuropsychology and social work. 

“We offer patients access to all 13 FDA-approved drugs to treat MS. The newer drugs often require the patient to come for an infusion and we have an excellent infusion center in our building,” Lockard said. “We treat patients from all over the state and southern Indiana and we try to make medication accessible to everyone a priority, no matter their location.”

The is a national educational association created to advance research and serve as a national voice for postdoctoral scholars. Founded in 2003, the NPA serves more than 3,400 individual members and 200 institutional members of the postdoctoral community. A “postdoc” is an individual who has received a doctoral (PhD) degree and is employed in a temporary research position for the purpose of gaining additional experience that will lead to an independent academic research or faculty position.

Bankston is a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Scott Whittemore, PhD, scientific director of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at UofL. Bankston’s research at UofL focuses on the role of autophagy, or selective degradation of cell components, in developmental myelination and myelin repair after injury. Myelin is the insulating material surrounding nerve fibers. Bankston earned his doctorate in biochemistry, cell and developmental biology from Emory University in 2013.

Bankston, one of four newly elected board members for NPA, served as chair of the NPA Outreach Committee beginning in February 2015. At UofL, he is a member of the postdoctoral advisory board and a member of the planning committee for the Career Research Advancement Focused Training (CRAFT) seminar series, which hosts speakers to provide information on potential career options for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. In addition, Bankston is a volunteer leader and member of event planning committees within the local chapter of the .