MS & Patient-Led Research — A Conversation with Dawn Morgan

In this episode

You meet Dawn Morgan: MS advocate of 25 years, educator turned researcher, and co-lead of a groundbreaking, patient-led study on the intersection of multiple sclerosis and women’s hormonal health. A personal ER scare, hysterectomy, and years of misattributed symptoms pushed Dawn to ask what the literature didn’t: How do perimenopause, menopause, and surgeries like hysterectomy interact with MS symptoms, progression, and quality of life?

Dawn walks you through the Women’s Health Project—from first interviews with dozens of women to a 7,000-article scoping review and partnerships moving toward IRB-approved research. You’ll hear what gets missed in routine MS care (UTIs, fibroids, heat intolerance vs. hot flashes, anxiety, cog-fog, depression) and a clear call for pharma and MS orgs to partner with patient experts.

Guest Bio

Dawn Morgan — Veteran MS advocate (diagnosed in 2000), community leader, and co-lead of a patient-initiated research program on MS and women’s health. Her team received the Nightingale Award for patient-led innovation and collaborates with nonprofit and academic partners to formalize an IRB-ready qualitative study on MS and menopause.

Key Topics

• Why women’s hormonal health is underrepresented in MS research
• Perimenopause/menopause symptoms vs. MS symptoms: where confusion starts
• UTIs, fibroids, and the missing MS–GYN handoff
• From interviews to literature: what 7,000+ papers still don’t answer
• Building an IRB path with nonprofit + academic partners
• What pharma and MS organizations can do next (fund, co-design, publish)
• What you need to know

What you need to know

If you work in neurology, women’s health, clinical ops, or patient engagement, this episode offers a practical blueprint for partnering with patient experts to ask better questions and build studies that improve daily life, not just endpoints.

Press / Partner Inquiries

Interested in supporting the MS × Women’s Health project (funding, research collaboration, or publication partners)? Reach out and we’ll connect you with Dawn’s team

About Merakoi

At Merakoi we see patients as co-creators, not numbers. Our mini-community model embeds diverse patient experts alongside life-science teams to shape trials, content and digital therapeutics from concept to launch. Ready to swap one-dimensional journey maps for stories that move hearts and markets? Let's chat!