National Multiple Sclerosis Society

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a United States-based non-profit organization, and its network of chapters nationwide promote research, educate, advocate on issues relating to multiple sclerosis, and organize a wide range of programs, including support for the newly diagnosed and those living with MS.

Founded in 1946, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society supports more MS research, offers more services for people with MS, provides more professional education programs, and furthers more MS advocacy efforts than any other MS organization in the world.

It does this through the extensive research it supports to find the cause, cure and improved treatments of the disease; the comprehensive services it provides to people with MS and their families; the professional education programs it offers to assist health care providers better serve their MS patients; and through its advocacy efforts on state and federal levels to encourage public policies supportive of the needs of people with multiple sclerosis.

Research
The MS society participates in research by funding projects. Currently they have launched a new research campaign called The Promise 2010, which consists in four specific areas:


 * Nervous system repair and protection
 * Pediatric MS Centers (management and care, and ultimately, research)
 * The Sonya Slifka Longitudinal MS Study
 * The MS pathological description (The Lesion Project)

Resources
In March of 2007, the MS Society launched a new website to help increase awareness of this disease and how to help. MS interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving, and the National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t.

One special feature on the new site is an interactive "Make Your Mark" tool where visitors can design their own marks against MS to be displayed on a "Wall". There is also video, a send-to-friend feature, easy ways to volunteer and join walk or bike events, and 25 user-generated stories.

There is also free MS button artwork available to increase awareness of how everyone can help bring about an end to multiple sclerosis.

The MS Society also has several resources available for research
 * Two banks of tissue for MS research:
 * Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center in Los Angeles, California
 * The Rocky Mountain MS Center in Colorado
 * One bank of DNA samples:
 * The Multiple Sclerosis DNA Bank at the University of California, San Francisco
 * A database of medical tests at:
 * Sonya Slifka Longitudinal Multiple Sclerosis Study