International study on cognitive remediation for MS

Dr Hannah Gullo

The University of Queensland, QLD

| Better treatments | Social And Applied Research | Travel Award | 2016 | Investigator Led Research |
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Summary

The Ian Ballard Travel Awards  are designed to allow Australian researchers to travel overseas to extend their skills and collaborate with leaders in the field of MS research.

Only during the last two decades have clinicians become increasingly aware of the prevalence and profound functional impact of cognitive impairment in MS. Dr Hannah Gullo, will spend four weeks at the Kessler Foundation in New Jersey in the USA, working with Professor John De Luca and his colleagues. Professor De Luca is the Senior Vice President for Research at Kessler Foundation and oversees the Kessler Foundation's renowned rehabilitation research in multiple sclerosis as well as spinal cord injury, brain injury, and stroke. He is internationally renowned for his work in memory and information processing.

Dr Gullo is conducting a randomised controlled trial to assess the use of compensatory memory techniques using Smartwatch technology, and this trip will enable her to consult with international experts in the field of cognitive training in MS and other disorders, to help obtain better outcomes for this trial. This collaboration will also see Dr Gullo combine expertise with researchers from the Kessler Foundation in order to develop a novel technique for training memory and thinking skills in people with MS using both remediation and compensatory rehabilitation techniques.

Project Outcomes

Dr Hannah Gullo established a new collaboration with the world-leading cognition researchers at the Kessler Foundation, New Jersey, USA. During her stay Dr Gullo met with Drs DeLuca, Strober, Chiaravalloti and Goverover, who are researching rehabilitation techniques to improve learning and memory in people with MS. Dr Gullo tapped into their expertise to help her evaluate a program that uses Smartwatches to collect data that will be used for cognitive studies into MS. Her visit also consolidated the great potential for collaboration between the research teams as together they developed novel rehabilitation approaches for a psychoeducational approach to rehabilitation of memory and thought processes. This rehabilitation approach will be the subject of grant applications to major funding bodies such as the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (USA).

Updated: 3 July 2017

Updated: 01 January, 2016

Investigator

Grant Awarded

  • Ian Ballard Travel Award

Total Funding

  • $8,000

Duration

  • 1 year over 2016

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International study on cognitive remediation for MS