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 is an Associate Professor of Neurology, and chief of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Division. She also serves as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion for the Department of Neurology, and the director of the Neuromyelitis Optica and MOG clinic at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California Irvine in Irvine, California, and her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, followed by neurology residency and clinical fellowship in neuroimmunology and multiple sclerosis at USC under a National Multiple Sclerosis (NMSS) fellowship training grant. She received her Master of Science in clinical, biomedical, and translational science from USC, Preventive Medicine, under a Clinical Translational Science Institute NIH KL2 award.
She spearheaded the collaborative research consortium: Alliance for Research in Hispanic MS (ARHMS) and serves as principal investigator along Dr. McCauley. ARHMS is geared at better defining racial and ethnic health disparities, by examining modifiable (social determinants of health and environmental) from non-modifiable genetic factors involved in disease severity and progression specific underrepresented populations with MS. She is also engaged in global health initiatives to address the global barriers to MS diagnosis and treatment around low and middle-income countries and under-resourced care centers. In addition, she serves in numerous national and international committees including as an elected member to the NMSS National Medical Advisory Committee (NMAC), NIH NINDS Health Disparities Strategic Steering Committee, and The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines Planning Committee to address CNS health disparities. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including being inducted into the NMSS Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2015 and recognized as a Health Care Champion in 2022.
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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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Farren Briggs, Ph.D.
Farren Briggs, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Division of Epidemiology within the Department of Public Health Sciences. He is a hybrid quantitative and population health scientist working at the intersection of epidemiology, biostatistics, and genetic/molecular epidemiology. His independent and collaborative research in multiple sclerosis spans the entire disease course: from metabolomic profiling and biomarker discovery, to modelling symptom patterns, and characterizing drivers of quality of life.
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Jaime Imitola, MD., FAAN, FANA
Dr. Imitola is Professor of Neurology, Genetics, and Neuroscience, Director of the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center (MS), Chief of the Division of MS and Neuroimmunology and Vice-Chair of Research in the Department of Neurology at UConn Health. He has grown the clinical program for MS/Neuroinflammation and lifespan Neuroimmune disorders at UConn Health with a multidisciplinary collaborative team, as a top choice in MS care in the State of Connecticut, especially complex patients that UConn is entrusted to manage. The Program is now nationally recognized as Comprehensive Center for MS care and national leader in MS care in diverse populations. He is leading and creating novel innovative models of MS care to prevent progression of MS throughout the lifespan.
He is a physician-scientist interested in progressive MS, neurodegeneration, and repair for the last 20 years. At the
bedside, he leads a team working on delivering care for challenging MS patients 1) lifespan (pediatric to aging MS)
2) The impact of social determinants of health in the biological progression in very complex MS patients and real-
world strategies for prevention of MS At the bench he leads a team that works on human models of neurological
diseases using advanced 3D immune-neural stem cell co-cultures and bioengineering principles, to identify new
targets for the next generation medications for molecular prevention of neurodegeneration and improving repair in
MS http://www.imitolab.org/
He has more than 165 papers, abstracts, and book chapters on stem cells and neuroinflammation, cortical and
stem cell damage in animal models of MS and the ethics of stem cell tourism. He has multiple accolades and
awards, including the William Silen Award, John Whitaker Award, the 2020 Inspiration Award, the 2023 Peter B.
Wade, MD Achievement Award from the MS Society. He has mentored and trained dozens of fellows, residents,
and medical students, efforts that were recognized with the 2023 UConn mentor of the year Award (nominated by
graduate students), out of 35 nominees. He is Fellow of American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American
Neurological Association (ANA). His work has been funded by NIH, the National MS Society and Industry grants.
He trained in Medicine and Neurology in Colombia, then in Neuroimmunology and Stem Cell Biology at the Center
for Neurological diseases (CND)/Partners MS center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in
Boston. He became a faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the department of Neurology. Then he pursued
additional training in Neurology and MS at Temple University and Jefferson Neuroscience Hospital in Philadelphia.
He went to the Ohio State University, where he founded the Progressive MS Clinic, caring for pediatric and adult
patients with MS and rare neuroimmune disorders. in 2019, he joined UConn Health to establish the
Comprehensive MS and Neuroimmunology center focusing on complex MS and Neuroimmunology care throughout
the lifespan.​
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Ashley Beecham, Ph.D.
Dr. Beecham is an Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Public Health Sciences, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science. As a statistical geneticist, her primary focus has been on the application of statistical methods to identify genetic variation and to characterize its role in disease susceptibility for a variety of autoimmune conditions, including multiple sclerosis. Her research leverages genetic admixture in diverse populations of Hispanics and African Americans to enable gene discovery, understand ancestry diversity, and assess ancestral differences in phenotypic outcomes.
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Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez, Ph.D.
Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez (pronouns he/him/él) earned his PhD in Psychology and Integrative Neuroscience from the University of Chicago in 2019. His research focuses on using large datasets (e.g.,ABCD Study) to expose the impact of social stratification on the environments in which people live, and how these environments, in turn, impact neural and cognitive development and mental health. His research interests also include the implementation of spatial analysis, health equity, and anti-racism principles in neuroscience, psychology, and epidemiology research.​
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Flavia Nelson, M.D.
Dr. Flavia Nelson is a Professor of Neurology and the Director of the CNS Autoimmune Disorders Division and the MS Center of Excellence at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Her research interests include MRI findings in MS related cognitive impairment, MS in the Hispanic population and stem cell transplant in MS​
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