Medical student presents research at international MS conference

Qays Aljabi exhibits his poster at the CMSC conference.

Qays Aljabi, a rising third-year medical student, recently presented research at The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers' (CMSC) 38th Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. 

His poster presentation examined two rare autoimmune diseases that frequently target the optic nerve and spinal cord.  

“The goal of the project is to examine the healthcare disparities and distance to clinic in connection to disease outcome, relapse rates, and other factors,” Aljabi said. “We saw that the majority of patients with those two rare diseases are disadvantaged in terms of living conditions, and the average distance traveled to clinic was over 70 miles for each visit.  

“So by looking into the connection of those two factors, we are hoping to find any correlation between how far the disease has progressed for patients who need to travel a longer distance compared to those who do not. The same applies for patients living in disadvantaged areas compared to patients who do not.” 

Aljabi conducted this research with William Kilgo, M.D., a neurologist with USA Health who specializes in MS treatment, director of the neurology residency program, and assistant professor of neurology at the Whiddon College of Medicine. He is interested in the field of neuro ophthalmology and has plans to collaborate with other institutions on a multicenter project. 

“Qays has been working with me since then on another project examining health disparities and the characterization of patients we see here at USA with two rare diseases: neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and a similar disease called MOG antibody mediated disease,” Kilgo said.  

The project has been expanded to collaborate with another medical school to combine patient data.  

“This will allow us to get a larger data set that we can get more accurate results from,” Aljabi said. “Once the project is done, we are hoping it can serve as a guide for future treatments and care for patients with those two rare autoimmune conditions.” 

Organized in 1986, CMSC, the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, is the leading educational, training, and networking organization for MS healthcare professionals and researchers.