Podcast overview

Gráinne Rouleau is an MS Patient Ambassador and a mum with a 3-year old girl. She has had MS for 13 years. She shares her family planning journey, the challenges and concerns she had along the way and the importance of upfront discussions with her neurologist and the midwife team on her MS and pregnancy.

Dr Agne Straukiene, MD is a Consultant Neurologist and the MS Service Lead at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust in England. Beside the clinical work, she is involved in research projects and clinical trials. She has interest in Medical informatics and together with her team have developed a real-time automated alert system for abnormal or missed blood tests for people with MS. She has also led in launching a Connect Plus medical app for people with MS. She has set up Healthy life-style MS group clinics and is leading on the Healthy Life Style & Wellness programme under the MS academy. Her motto is to support her MS patients to live a long, healthy and present life with MS.

Dr Straukiene discusses the importance of family planning in MS and the unmet needs for pregnant and breast-feeding MS patients. She shares her thoughts about approval of interferons, including Rebif^® in pregnancy and breast-feeding and highlights how these treatments can help healthcare professionals to support their MS patients throughout patients’ family planning journey.

Dr Gunel Huseynova, PhD is the Neurology Product Manager at Merck. She has a research background in neurodegenerative conditions and is passionate about ensuring Merck MS products reach the right patients at the right time. She moderates the discussion to explore the patient and neurologist’s perspective on family planning in MS and how Merck products can support both healthcare professionals and patients in their family planning journey.

Podcast overview

Dr Orla Gray, MD has been a consultant neurologist for over ten years and is based at the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland. She has a specialist interest in multiple sclerosis and has developed and led the MS services within her trust. She has a keen interest in clinically relevant, patient centred research including large observational MS Registries such as MSBase. She is passionate about all aspects of women’s health in MS including family planning, pregnancy, post-partum and neonatal outcomes. Dr Gray discusses the importance of observational studies in MS and provides an overview of the European beta-interferon pregnancy registry and Nordic pregnancy registries that supported approval of Rebif^® and other interferons during pregnancy and breastfeeding. She shares her thoughts about how Rebif^® and other interferons can support female MS patients who are planning a family or have unplanned pregnancies.

Del Thomas, is a Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist in Wye Valley NHS Trust. She started her career in Neuro respite centre where 90% of the patients had MS, which sparked her interest in MS. She started working as an MS Nurse in 2003 in an acute setting, then moved to Wye Valley NHS trust in 2006 to set up and lead a community-based service. She previously was the Chair of the UK Multiple Sclerosis Specialist Nurse Association (UKMSSNA) and is currently is the UK`s board member of the International Organization of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses (IOMSN). In this podcast, Del discusses challenges of MS patients in her care, their concerns and questions about family planning and how Rebif^® and particularly the RebiSmart^® device can support MS patients who are pregnant or wish to breast-feed.

Dr Gunel Huseynova, PhD is the Neurology Product Manager at Merck. She has a research background in neurodegenerative conditions and is passionate about ensuring Merck MS products reach the right patients at the right time. She moderates the discussion to explore the neurologist’s and clinical nurse specialist’s perspective on family planning in MS and the importance of an ongoing dialogue between the industry and the clinical care team to ensure we can provide the best care possible to MS patients considering a family.