Why Multiple Sclerosis Research Needs All Of Us

Medical research is important.

Researchers are important.

We need to value and support the work that researchers do.

Researchers’ work is giving us the best chance of finding answers that will help improve the quality of life of millions of people around the world.

The statements above are very basic, but they are also very true.  Despite that, we are living in a time of an anti-science movement.  It has become increasingly normal to accuse scientists of lying or covering up the truth – that researchers are being paid to give an opinion that suits the needs of big companies or politicians or other conflicting interests.  Facts and alternative facts are being presented to us every day, but it seems to be a case of whoever can speak loudest must be telling the truth.

As a scientist, the thing that drives you the most is finding answers and solving puzzles that will help people.  Can you imagine being targeted and harassed for trying to do that?

Maybe we need to remember that old saying – ‘sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me!’ – well unfortunately, there are many other factors that make research life difficult.  The journey that a researcher must take is long, the hours are demanding, the job security is low and securing the basic funding to be able to do the work they love is becoming almost impossible to obtain.

Take those circumstances to any other profession and would you stay around?  Probably not and the reality is that many very talented scientists are being lost to other jobs…that is many great minds who will no longer be trying to solve these critical problems.

This is the key area of concern for me.  I’m not here to be the voice of the downtrodden researcher, that’s not my role.  However, I do think it is an issue that we need to start treating seriously and taking action on when it gets to the point that our chances of finding answers and helping people starts to decrease purely because the work can’t be done.

It is too easy to sit back and think that other people will fix the problems at hand.  While it is true that there are many people and organisations around the world who are working tirelessly to also find solutions to these challenges, there are also things that we can all do to help turn things around.

At MStranslate, we have decided to help by beginning to try and find public funding for research projects that are featured on our website.  As a member of our community, you can help us in this endeavour, by doing things like:

1. Directly contributing to support these projects – although we don’t expect people to donate money they don’t have
2. Sharing information and the link for this project to family, friends and companies in your local network.  This value of this cannot be underestimated – the more people that know about it, the more people there are to potentially support it and help us reach the funding goal.  If any companies are interested in donating, we would love to hear from them, as we would be happy to discuss how we can help promote their contribution in return.

Please help us do our part in reversing this trend and allowing research continue to find answers to the key questions about multiple sclerosis! Click here to learn more.