MS Society of Canada Grant to Support AI in Predicting Disease Course

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada has awarded CA$1 million to a project helping doctors who treat multiple sclerosis (MS) patients make more personalized treatment decisions through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The society awarded the five-year grant (worth about $814,800) to Douglas Arnold, MD, a neurologist with Neuro (the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) at McGill University, with expertise in using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess MS and Alzheimer's disease. "We are entering a new era in which'Big Data' and increasing computer power are making it possible to develop artificial intelligence methods capable of predicting how individual MS patients will do in the future and how they will respond to specific treatments," Arnold said in a press release. "Clinicians cannot make such predictions at present," he added. "Integrating AI into the clinic will allow clinicians to adapt treatments to each individual patient's unique circumstances, to help ensure a better outcome."