Flavia M. Nelson

Biography

Dr. Flavia M. Nelson obtained her Masters from University of Chihuahua School of Medicine. She received Postdoctoral fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis - Research, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.

Research Interest

EVOLVE-MS-1 Trial: A phase 3 open label study to evaluate the long term safety and tolerability of ALKS 8700 in adults with Relapsing Remitting MS. Patients with RRMS who want to try a new oral drug for MS which is similar to Tecfidera are eligible. Patients who have discontinued Tecfidera due to side effects are not eligible for this study. Low Dose fingolimod (0.25 mg) We are currently enrolling in a multicenter trial to compare the effectiveness and safety of low dose 0.25 mg fingolimod and 0.5 mg fingolimod with Copaxone 20mg subcutaneously in RRMS patients. The new oral agent fingolimod has already been approved for 0.5 mg dose, which blocks migration of T cells from the lymph node to the blood stream, and therefore the brain, significantly reducing number of attacks in RRMS patients. To be eligible for this study, patients should be in between the ages of 18–65, have at least 1 documented relapse during the previous year or 2 documented relapses during the previous 2 years. North American Registry for Care and Research in MS (NARCRMS) 1) Establish a national registry and longitudinal database of clinical and patient-based information 2) Establish “Cores” of repositories of clinical, genetic, and radiological data, and various biomaterials for developing biomarkers for this disorder across the United States 3) Develop “Research Interest Groups” (RIGS) from within the participating centers to promote collaborative efforts to utilize the data as they become available, to address specific unanswered questions in this disorder Enrollment to begin in Summer 2016 Detection of MS Related Cognitive Impairment: In Search of MRI Surrogate Markers Major aims of this project is to develop and apply a multimodal MRI approach to the evaluation of cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis.