President and CEO, Multiple Sclerosis Association of America
Welcome to “7 Questions with A Couple,” a monthly series that includes quick conversations with a variety of experts and influencers from throughout the MS community. We are grateful for the opportunity to share with you our conversation with Gina Ross Murdoch. Gina is the President and CEO of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. She is a visionary leader whose passion for serving members of the MS community and improving their lives is inspiring as well as contagious. Gina is a dynamic executive with more than two decades of non-profit experience, including over five years leading the MSAA. She currently serves as Treasurer of the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition and recently co-chaired the first-ever MS Coalition Patient Summit.
1. What’s your “elevator speech” when you meet someone who wants to know more about the MSAA?
I would say MSAA’s mission is improving lives today, but our organization has been a leading convener of the entire MS community, whether it’s patients or care partners or health care providers; really focusing on the importance of quality of life. Our strength is personal empowerment and fulfilling the significant need for timely information required for living well with MS.
2. MS is a challenging and unpredictable disease. What led you to pursue this for your career?
Going back, I started working with another MS organization in 1996 when there was little available for people with MS. Even back then, I was just so inspired and humbled by the strength of those impacted by MS; whether that was the families, or the individuals living with MS. Despite the challenges they faced, there was this fierce conviction to live life as fully as possible. I think that really stuck with me. During my time outside the MS community, that conviction to live well and the importance of quality of life really led me to come back around to MSAA. I was able to really take those lessons and inspiration that I had during the early part of my career and make a difference on a national basis.
3. After leading the MSAA for more than five years, what has surprised you the most about the MS community?
I think this last year has been a real challenge for all of us, but it is that resiliency that made the most impression on me. Despite increased isolation, concerns about having MS, Covid, and the turmoil in the world, the people I spoke to truly maintained that compassion for others’ and a drive to learn all that they can. I think the MS community is incredibly educated about their disease. It’s that resiliency and dedication to life that continually inspires and surprises me, and I draw strength from that.
4. For worse and for better, how did the pandemic impact the MSAA and how it serves people and families living with MS?
Like all organizations, MSAA needed to shift quickly and adapt to the ever-changing situations. My favorite quote through the pandemic has been, “Crisis doesn’t build character. It reveals it.” We had incredible support from our board, staff, our partners and our donors. And due to that, we were very proud to say that we did not cut any programs or services. Everyone who needed an MRI, everyone who needed a cooling vest, everyone who needed the mobility equipment received that service. There are obviously more requests now with an explosion of unemployment and more people are falling into the eligibility category. Most importantly, the people we serve and provide free programs and services for could still rely on MSAA.
I think we also looked at our mission of improving lives today and saw ways to stay true to that mission while expanding into other areas of need. We really augmented some of our mental health resources. We conducted nine Covid-19 and MS Q&A webinars with Dr. Carrie Hersh and Dr. Barry Hendin, and we expanded our work with communities of color to address health inequities. Our real approach was a dual approach: one to ensure that everything the MSAA has been, and that people rely on is stable, but also look out into the MS community to address growing gaps.
5. What encourages you most about the momentum that MS researchers have today?
Seeing the evolution of new treatments come forward has been wonderfully inspiring, but I also think the recent focus on treatments for progressive MS is exciting to see. The first-ever medication for primary-progressive MS was approved shortly after I came back into the MS community, and now we have disease-modifying therapies for secondary-progressive MS. A focus on a lot of research in this particular area is very encouraging and needed, so I am glad to see that happening. In addition to the medical research that is absolutely critical, I’m encouraged by the research into the quality-of-life aspects of MS. The MS SUPPORT tool clinical trial that MSAA has going on is a shared decision-making tool, which I think is very important too as we grow in the numbers of medications and options available. This tool will give those living with MS a way to filter through their options and determine what is best for them. The MS SUPPORT tool will empower patients to take control of their treatment decisions.
6. The MSAA recently marked its 50th anniversary. Congratulations! What’s next for the organization as it moves into its next 50 years?
We actually started our new five-year strategic plan in July 2019, which was not necessarily the best year to start that. Due to the changes in the world, we went back to the drawing board and we now have posted a new strategic plan starting with 2021 through 23. A lot of the areas were really expanded on due to the pandemic and questions about where we need to be. We’re continuing a lot of our work with communities of color. In 2019 we had started an African American advisory board that was comprised of individuals living with MS, care partners and healthcare providers from African American communities who really came together to educate us on important questions like where are the gaps, what needs to be done, how can we do better, what areas do we need to focus on. We’re actually going to take some of the lessons learned there and launch a Latinx MS advisory board modeled on some of the real successes we’ve had with the African American board. We’re also looking at expanding our work with rural populations. Coming up we’re going to have a four-part series of living with MS in rural areas: How do you create a care team, what do you do when you’re not living in a major metropolitan area. These are all part of our focus on underserved populations.
We are also delving more and more into the mental health area. We focused on mental health and purpose in life for MS Awareness Month, and two features for The Motivator really focused on this. We are looking at technology tools to address mental health areas and really bringing the issues of mental health more to the forefront. Obviously, we’ve seen this all across the country but just talking about important subjects like depression as part of MS, how can healthcare providers address mental health issues sooner, screening tools, how can we promote normalizing and having conversations more about mental health and the impact of MS on mental health.
And we’re looking to continue on the success of our Improving Lives Through Art series that was incredibly well received. It was an opportunity for people to be connected across the country. Obviously, it came through Covid, but it has such a long possibility to connect people across the country in a safe, fun, and engaging way. Also, the Improving Lives Benefit will be virtual again next year. We were able to bring in people from all across the country to the event where we wouldn’t normally. We were also able to bring in people from Puerto Rico and engage them in the night. We’ll continue to focus using some of the technological advances and connecting people more on a virtual basis and also a larger basis to bring people into the MSAA family.
7. When you have a day off to do nothing but relax, what is the first thing on your to-do list?
I am a beach girl. I was actually born in Atlantic City, so I will say that I was born with my feet in the sand. If I have a free day, I am on the beach. My parents retired to a house a couple blocks from the beach, and I am all about the water. If it’s not a beach day, I love to cook. I said that I processed the pandemic through garlic. I love to cook, and my daughter is a phenomenal cook. We will do our version of the Food Network show Chopped and try to come up with the best dishes and compete. Those are my two favorite things to do when I’m not at work.