Mission Statement
The Alliance for Research in Hispanic MS (ARHMS) was formed to accelerate our understanding of multiple sclerosis across the Hispanic community. ARHMS is intended to build collaborative partnerships with a broad group of clinicians and researchers that both care and treat Hispanic patients with MS and have a strong interest in research within this patient population. The intention in a broad sense is to improve our understanding of this population epidemiologically and investigate its genetic contributions to disease and MS related progression. The Consortium will act to implement and strategically develop tools to examine MS outcomes and eventually evaluate treatment responses specific to this population. ARHMS investigators have varied expertise in clinical care, epidemiology, genetics, imaging, immunology, and outcome measures and share a clear and unified vision to tackle MS in this community.
Founding Members
Lilyana Amezcua, M.D., M.S.
Dr. Amezcua received her Bachelor of Science degree from University of California Irvine in Irvine, California, her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, followed by neurology residency at the University of Southern California (USC) and was the recipient of a NMSS multiple sclerosis clinical fellowship at USC Keck. She received her Master of Science degree in clinical, biomedical, and translational science from USC, Preventive Medicine, under a Clinical Translational Science Institute NIH KL2 award and tutelage of Annette Langer-Gould, MD, PhD and David Conti, PhD.
She serves as principal investigator on multiple clinical trials and epidemiological projects and her research interests include MS in Hispanic and defining modifiable (environmental and sociocultural) from non-modifiable genetic factors involved in MS disease severity and progression. She is a member of the NMSS and serves on several boards such as the Hispanic, Clinical Care Fellowship and Access to Care advisory boards. She is active within her community and lectures both in English and Spanish.
She was recognized for her dedication with an induction into the NMSS Health Professionals Hall of Fame in 2015.
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Jacob L. McCauley, Ph.D.
Dr. McCauley is an Associate Professor of Human Genetics and Pathology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine within the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics. He also serves as the Director of the Center for Genome Technology and Biorepository Facility at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics.
Dr. McCauley is a genetic epidemiologist with a background comprised of training in both molecular and statistical genetic techniques. His primary interest is to improve the understanding of human disease through disease gene discovery, genomics, and in-depth examination of environmental factors that influence disease outcome. He has been involved in MS research since 2005, playing a central role in various large-scale MS genetic projects during this period.
Jorge Oksenberg, Ph.D.
Jorge R. Oksenberg is Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and holds the G.A. Zimmermann Endowed Chair in Neurology. Dr. Oksenberg received his PhD in Immunology in 1987 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and joined the UCSF faculty in 1993 following postdoctoral training at Stanford University, California. His research interests include neurogenetics, the biology of aging, and the regulation of the immune response, working primarily in multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune demyelination. In addition, he has research experience in the study of multiple sclerosis in African Americans. Dr. Oksenberg directs one of the largest multiple sclerosis bio-repositories in the country, is a leading investigator in the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium, and served between 2005 and 2013 as Associate Editor for Annals of Neurology. His work has been consistently supported by the US National Institute of Health and the US National MS Society, resulting in over 200 peer-reviewed published articles.
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Members
Ángel Chinea, M.D.
Dr. Chinea obtained his bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. He finished his studies in Medicine and Surgery at Valencia University in Valencia, Spain, and completed his internship at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey and at the Mayaguez Medical Center in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He finished two years of internal medicine at the Municipal Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and obtained his specialty in Neurology at the Puerto Rico Veterans Hospital and at the University Hospital in San Juan. For eight years, he was Director of the Neurology Service at the Pavia Hospital in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He opened his own private practice in 1987, and has been regularly recognized with the "Best Doctors Choice Award" since 1998.
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Since 1996, Dr. Chinea has had a special interest in clinical research regarding multiple sclerosis. Supported by Dr. Charles M. Poser, Dr. Chinea developed the first MS registry and patient database. In his interest of helping MS patients, Dr. Chinea founded the Puerto Rico Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (FEM) as well as a multidisciplinary Multiple Sclerosis Center. Since 1999, Dr. Chinea has been a speaker at national and international Multiple Sclerosis Congresses.
Dr. Chinea has completed research on current and new treatments for MS in collaboration with prominent centers in other areas of the United States. He serves as member of advisory boards for MS pharmaceuticals, is certified in the administration and training for therapeutic Botox®, and has published articles on MS for Galenus - a medical magazine distributed to doctors, hospitals and medical schools in Puerto Rico. He is also the current Medical Director of the Puerto Rico Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
Silvia R. Delgado, M.D.
Dr. Delgado is an Associate Professor of the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She is a multiple sclerosis (MS) specialist with a background in immunology. She has been actively involved in clinical research in the MS field since 2001, and has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator in large multi-center clinical trials that have resulted in the development of some current treatments for this disorder.
For the last 8 years, in close collaboration with researchers at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, she has been involved in the study of genes that regulate disease susceptibility of MS, with a special focus in Hispanic patients.
Dr. Delgado's primary interest is characterizing the disease process and studying the role of genetic and environmental factors in Hispanic patients with MS. The better understanding of MS in Hispanics, a heterogeneous and understudied population, will contribute to the optimized care of these patients.
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Margaret Burnett, M.D.
Dr. Burnett is a neurologist specializing in Neuroimmunology, including multiple sclerosis. She has been caring for patients with this disease and teaching patients students, physicians, and other health care providers about MS for over 20 years. In addition, she has been active in research both as an investigator and safety monitor and has been involved in many of the clinical trials that have led to the medications currently in use in MS.
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Christopher Orlando, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Orlando attended medical school and also earned a master's in public health at the University of Utah School of Medicine and completed a residency in neurology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. He is currently in fellowship training in the field of multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology under Dr. Amezcua. Under her mentorship, he is conducting research regarding the ways that social determinants of health and structural racism affect the severity of MS among minoritized patients.
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Talat Islam, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Islam is an environmental epidemiologist who joined the USC faculty in 2009. He completed his medical education at Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh and his doctoral degree in epidemiology at USC. His primary research interest is the contribution of environmental exposure to disease and its underlying pathogenesis, with a particular emphasis on understanding the effect of environmental factors in the etiology and prognosis of MS. He is also involved in teaching epidemiology and environmental epidemiology at the graduate level at USC.
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