Copyright ©2010. the Associated Press. Produced by NewsOK.com all rights reserved. this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.  

For the patient with sudden dizziness, inability to walk, slurred speech or the host of other puzzling multiple sclerosis symptoms, a new clinic may offer reason to celebrate.

Officials Tuesday announced the upcoming opening of the OMRF Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence to be in the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s new research tower.

“It is a humongous day. It is basically awesome,” said Dr. Gabriel Pardo, a nationally recognized MS researcher and the new center’s director. “What we’re going to be able to achieve here is completely unique.”

Along with diagnosing and treating MS patients, the center’s physician-scientists will conduct clinical and laboratory research on MS. the inflammatory, degenerative disease of the central nervous system affects about 400,000 Americans. about 3,400 Oklahomans are self-identified as having an MS diagnosis, though the number is believed to be at least 4,200.

Pardo said he is excited about the planned March 15 move to the new clinic at OMRF, 825 NE 13.

“Ultimately, we have the goal of curing multiple sclerosis. the complexity of the disease is very, very big. That’s why it will take the approach that we are going to embark on here,” Pardo said.

The new center will allow doctors to treat MS patients at bedside, consult with each other and MS researchers inside the clinic, study how the disease works in patients and ultimately apply what they’ve learned to improve the lives of multiple sclerosis patients everywhere.

The center will feature rooms and equipment dedicated to MS evaluation and treatment. these include high-tech examining rooms, a tower infusion suite, ophthalmological and dental facilities, MS-dedicated physical therapy and computerized testing of the brain.

MS patients also will have the chance to participate in clinical trials so they can use experimental therapies and contribute to the understanding of the disease.

MS patient Lucy Fraser said patients and their loved ones have waited for this and now have reason to celebrate. the Oklahoma City woman was diagnosed 15 years ago, after years of strange symptoms — from leg numbness to arm numbness to vertigo — coming and going during the course of the disease.

She was finally diagnosed and eventually found her way to Pardo’s offices at the Neuroscience Institute at Mercy, where he will serve as the medical director of the MS Center of Oklahoma until he moves to OMRF. Fraser, who has since taken a job with the National MS Society, said she was initially hesitant to become one of his patients because he had 800 patients at the time, though it was a fraction of the 2,000 he now sees.

Pardo, an internationally recognized neurologist and neuro-ophthalmologist, impressed her so much she choked up in telling it. she overheard him telling a doctor, “When I was with the university (U.M. Nueva Granada, Bogota), I fell in love with MS.”

Along with Pardo, Dr. Farhat Husain also will join the center’s medical staff. Husain is a neurologist who currently treats more than 300 MS patients through Southwest Neurological Associates in Oklahoma City.

Fraser said the potential is significant because the doctors, scientists, physician assistants, physical therapists and other MS personnel are within arm’s reach of patients and the research laboratories.

“We really do feel like there is a cure out there. It is so exciting to know that now that OMRF is joining the fight, it’s going to move faster,” Fraser said.

Edmond MS patient Lori Evans said it’s amazing how important the new clinic is to MS patients.

“That is unbelievable. all these clinical trials will hopefully lead to a cure and a way to regenerate the nerves of people like myself,” she said.

After the March move-in, the OMRF Multiple Sclerosis center will ultimately take up three floors in its seven-floor research tower home. Supported by private donors and grants from the state and the federal government, the tower is believed to be the first medical facility anywhere that will harness the wind to help power its labs.

The tower is the biggest expansion project in the 64-year history of Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, increasing the 50 principal investigators and roughly 500 employees to 80 investigators and 800 employees.

News Photo Galleriesview all