Newswise — (ROCHESTER, Minnesota, August 2019) – The American Neuromuscular Foundation (ANF) recently announced development grant award recipient Dr. Michelle Kvalsund, who will conduct her research in Zambia.
The ANF is a nonprofit association dedicated to the advancement of neuromuscular, musculoskeletal, and electrodiagnostic research and medicine. Development grants are intended to recruit a generation of talented physicians and research scientists to help launch research into muscle and nerve disorders.
Dr. Kvalsund was inspired to apply for the grant from her experience working as a neurologist in Zambia to pursue research on acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), a sudden onset of weakness or paralysis of the limbs over just hours or days.
“As an early career physician scientist, this award appeared to be a perfect fit to achieve my career goals of becoming an independent physician scientist with research interests focused around polyneuropathies,” she said.
Dr. Kvalsund’s grant proposal is titled “Prevalence and Spectrum of Adult Acute Flaccid Paralysis in Zambia.” The project will involve a prospective period prevalence study of AMP among adult admissions to the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. AFP has many causes and can be life-threatening by causing weakness of respiratory muscles. Further breakthroughs and discoveries regarding this phenomenon could have global implications, as recent pandemics such as West Nile Virus and Zika virus are associated with acute flaccid paralyses, and their origins can be traced to sub-Saharan Africa.
“I have found these disorders to be common among patients admitted to the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka,” Dr. Kvalsund said of her travels. “These disorders present a diagnostic challenge owing to the broad range of toxic, nutritional, infectious, and para-infectious conditions with similar clinical presentations and limited access to diagnostic testing. I recognized a need for improving early diagnosis to direct better management and reduce the morbidity and mortality I was observing.”
Dr. Kvalsund completed her neurology residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2013. She returned to her medical school alma mater, Michigan State, as a clinical instructor and neuro-epidemiology fellow in the MSU International Neurologic & Psychiatric Epidemiology Program. She divides her time between East Lansing, Michigan, and Zambia, where she already conducts research and serves as an honorary lecturer within the University of Zambia School of Medicine.
“She is observing and documenting things that no one else has seen,” wrote Dr. Michael Andary, Program Director, ACGME Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency at MSU. “She is doing research and clinical work that very few, if any, Western trained neurologists have seen. I believe that much of what Dr. Kvalsund is observing, reporting, and doing research on is original, unknown, and poorly understood.”
The grant includes complimentary registration to an American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) Annual Meeting (along with a free membership during the grant year) and travel costs to attend the meeting. The 2020 meeting is in Orlando, Florida, and the 2021 meeting will be held in Aurora, Colorado. AANEM is the nonprofit membership association that funds the ANF’s operations, allowing all ANF donations to go toward funding research and education projects like the one proposed by Dr. Kvalsund. She will present the findings of her research at an upcoming AANEM Annual Meeting, once her project has been completed.
The goal of her forthcoming work will be to “improve clinical care of these highly disabling and often life-threatening conditions in this setting.” The ANF is able to finance research projects through its $3 million endowment from the AANEM and generous individual donations, allowing the foundation to fund projects every year. Dr. Kvalsund’s work will be funded for up to 2 years, hopefully providing actionable insight for other research scientists.
“I hope that the knowledge gained might lead to new scientific discoveries that can generate improvements in the care of patients around the globe, both through opportunities to improve surveillance and through the study of acute flaccid paralysis in a region where very little is known.”
For more information about the American Neuromuscular Foundation or to make a donation, visit www.neuromuscularfoundation.org.
About the American Neuromuscular Foundation
Based in Rochester, Minnesota, the American Neuromuscular Foundation (ANF) is a nonprofit association that provides funds to help develop the next generation of researchers to advance the science and practice of neuromuscular (NM) and electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine. The ultimate goal in promoting and advancing NM and EDX scientific research and education is to improve the lives of patients with NM diseases.
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Media Contact: Robbie Spencer
AANEM Sr. Communications & Membership Senior Coordinator
507.288.0100
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