ACT: What do you think has caused the lack of awareness when it comes to the recognition of MS in non-white populations?
Tirisham Gyang: So that’s a very good question. I think historically multiple sclerosis (MS) has been taught to be a disease that affects primarily white individuals. In medical school, that was what we learned. That was what we were trained to look for. Whenever we saw, whenever we thought about MS, it was typically in the context of a white, young female. So now that we’re getting more evidence and more data that MS affects everyone, and actually the incidence is growing higher in minority populations. I think there’s just a lack of that catching up of awareness because there’s still that notion that MS is something that affects primarily white individuals.
