Your Stories: Researchers at Mandell MS Center Receive Pilot Grant
November 12, 2024Categories: Awards and Recognition
A team of researchers at the Joyce D. and Andrew J. Mandell Center for Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Care and Neuroscience Research, in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, VA MS Centers of Excellence, Kessler Foundation, Holy Name Medical Center, Trinity College, and Yeshiva University, have received a pilot grant award to evaluate their new tablet-based cognitive screening tool, MSCogScreen.
Researchers at the Mandell MS Center have received a pilot grant award to evaluate a new tablet-based cognitive screening tool called MSCogScreen.
Led by Elizabeth S. Gromisch, Ph.D., MSCS, Research Neuropsychologist at the Mandell MS Center, the study will be testing the different versions of MSCogScreen against established measures, which is a crucial step when developing new assessment tools for clinical practice.
The National MS Society and American Academy of Neurology recommend annual cognitive screenings for people living with MS. However, these screenings are not routinely done and there are several limitations with commercially available screening tools. MSCogScreen is designed to be administered on an iPad within 16 minutes and assess six cognitive domains that can be affected by MS. In addition to three different versions of the cognitive tests, which allows for repeated testing, MSCogScreen includes 17 validated patient-reported outcome measures. The MSCogScreen Development Team has included five patients from the Mandell MS Center, who have been involved in the creation of the cognitive stimuli, selection of patient-reported outcome measures, and design of the application prototype.
Following completion of this pilot study, the team will be applying for additional funding to build the functional version of MSCogScreen and integrate it with the electronic health record. The hope is to further increase access for patients with MS to care through technology-based solutions.
People living with MS who are interested in participating in the MSCogScreen pilot study can contact the Mandell MS Center Research Team at MSResearch@TrinityHealthOfNE.org or 860-714-3005 for more information.
Submitted by Elizabeth S. Gromisch, Ph.D., MSCS, Research Neuropsychologist at the Mandell MS Center.
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