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MS connection: fall 2012
research
exciting time for ms researchers Dr. Anne Cross has been involved in the field of multiple sclerosis research for nearly 30 years and has seen plenty of changes in the field. When she started there were no treatments for multiple sclerosis. She also remembers being on committees reviewing research grants and having money to spend on research, but not enough worthwhile and relevant projects.
“It used to be when I was on the committees in the 90s, we had money to fund the projects that we thought were good,” Cross said. “If we got 50 grants we might only say that 15 were good enough to be funded. All of those that were recommended would get funded. Now it’s much more frustrating because we don’t have the money to fund all the grants that should be recommended.”
how projects are reviewed
Cross, a Professor of Neurology and Head of Neuroimmunology at the John L. Trotter MS Center at Washington University in St. Louis, serves on and will soon be the chair of the National MS Society’s Research Programs Advisory Committee (RPAC). This committee reviews and recommends new research grants for funding. Subcommittees review, critique and rank all the research grants that are worthwhile, ready and relevant to be studied. Grants that aren’t quite ready are sent back to the investigator to rework them.
“The new drugs will be helpful for people who need them and they may tell us something new about the course of the disease itself.” “If we think the idea is good but the project needs a little tweaking, we make a lot of constructive criticism,” Cross said. “I really like the MS Society’s way of reviewing. The committee will make suggestions and say please send it back in.” Once the RPAC has all the recommended projects it has to determine which ones to fund.
Dr. Anne Cross will serve as the chair for the national Ms society’s research programs advisory committee that reviews and recommends grants for funding.
“We get the rankings from the subcommittees, see how much money there is now, how much money there may be in 6 months and then we have to make some hard decisions,” Cross said. “We can’t study it all. There are a lot of grants that are worthwhile that don’t get funded.”