Optimizing Multiple Sclerosis Management

Scott Newsome, DO, is Director of The Johns Hopkins Neurology Outpatient Services and the Neurology Infusion Center, and Assistant Professor of Neurology, at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr Newsome specializes in the care of patients with neuroimmunological and neuroinflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. He has special interest in evaluating and treating patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), transverse myelitis, neuromyelitis optica, and stiff person syndrome. Dr Newsome received his medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating with honors. He then completed his internship in internal medicine and residency in neurology at Albany Medical Center. During Dr Newsome's neurology residency, he was awarded the Golden Apple Outstanding Resident Teaching Award and later was chosen to be Chief Resident. He went on to complete a fellowship in neuroimmunology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital with the support of a Sylvia Lawry Physician Fellowship from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Dr Newsome joined The Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers after completing his fellowship. Dr Newsome's main research focuses on the use of new quantitative clinical outcome measures and imaging techniques in MS. These tools may improve the precision of disability measurements in MS and other central nervous system disorders. Currently, Dr Newsome is involved in several clinical trials for MS, transverse myelitis, and neuromyelitis optica. He also serves as Chair for the Consensus Conference Committee of the Consortium of MS Centers and is an advisor for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Clinical Advisory Committee.

June Halper, MSN, APN-C, MSCN, FAAN, is a Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner specializing in multiple sclerosis (MS) since 1978. She was a founder of the Gimbel MS Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, and was the Executive Director from 1989-2008. With the Multiple Sclerosis Research and Treatment Center of the New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ, the Gimbel Center established the Multiple Sclerosis Network of New Jersey in 1998. In 1993, the Gimbel MS Center was named the administrative seat of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), the largest organization of MS healthcare professionals in the world. Ms Halper was President of the CMSC from 1995-1997 and has been the Executive Director since 1997.
 
Ms Halper spearheaded the development of a national task force on disabled women's health issues, culminating in a nationally attended conference in June 1996, which focused on autoimmune diseases and women. She has published and lectured extensively on MS and its ramifications, and is the editor of Comprehensive Nursing Care in Multiple Sclerosis and Advanced Concepts in Nursing Care in Multiple Sclerosis, co-editor of Staying Well With Multiple Sclerosis: A Self-Care Guide, and co-editor of Nursing Practices in Multiple Sclerosis: A Core Curriculum. Ms Halper chaired the first Multiple Sclerosis Nurse Specialist Consensus Committee's development of a monograph on the nurse's role in adherence to complex protocols; the impact of cognitive impairment in MS nursing care; and the nurse's role in the patient's and family's quality of life. She also chaired the second such committee which published Multiple Sclerosis: Best Practices in Nursing Care: Disease Management, Pharmacologic Treatment, Nursing Research. Ms Halper is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the founding director of the International Organization of MS Nurses (IOMSN), and the recipient of the IOMSN's first June Halper Award for Excellence in Nursing in Multiple Sclerosis. She was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in November 1999. In 2000, she spearheaded the establishment of the Multiple Sclerosis International Credentialing Board, which developed the first international certification examination in MS nursing, first offered in June 2002 and biannually thereafter. As Executive Director of the CMSC, Ms Halper initiated the first certification examination for multi-disciplinary MS specialists in 2004. In 2010, she oversaw CMSC's approval by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) as a provider of continuing medical education for physicians.