Neurologist Specializing in Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Editor’s note – Neurology is the non-surgical branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, comprised of the brain, the spinal cord, and the peripheral nerves.
Significant neurological diseases include neuropathy, dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, encephalopathy, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, meningitis, multiple sclerosis (M.S.), muscular dystrophy, migraine, attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.
A neurologist has noted that as recently as 2005, “The field was still sometimes called ‘diagnosis and adios’ because it seemed like there was so little that could be done for patients with chronic neurological diseases such as M.S., Parkinson’s, A.L.S. and Alzheimer’s. As of 2023, that same neurologist concluded that “M.S. is the only chronic neurologic disease where there’s been a very dramatic change.” In 1993, there were no approved M.S.-specific drug therapies; now there are more than twenty.
Some treatments broadly target a patient’s immune response, and others interfere with the production of elements of the immune response which attack the patient’s nervous system. A study from Turkey comparing the records of one M.S. clinic in 1996 with those at the same clinic twenty years later showed a dramatic decline in the number of wheelchair-dependent patients – a particularly visible measure of disease.
Since M.S. is a disease of the central nervous system, the relevant organ for research is the brain. There are two main types of M.S.: a relapsing-remitting form (RRMS) and a primary-progressive form (PPMS). Both attack the brain and the spinal cord and can become debilitating if not treated but RRMS usually responds well to current therapies. As of 2023, PPMS does not. But scientific breakthroughs – previously thought impossible – are always possible. If only there was a cure for people not believing in the possibilities of science…….. actually, there is: education in history and science plus the willingness to engage in critical thinking.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Saud Sadiq (SS) was born in Kenya.
EDUCATION
SS graduated from the University of Nairobi’s medical school. He completed his residency in internal medicine in Kenya and in the U.K. (United Kingdom, commonly referred to as England, although the separate countries forming the U.K. consist of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). He later moved to Austin, Texas for a residency in neurology at the University of Texas.
UNIQUE APPROACH
Early in his medical career, SS trained as a ‘Research Fellow,’ funded by fellowships in neuroimmunology. For six years, he was an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Columbia University in New York City, where he served as Associate Director of the MS Clinical Program. Eventually he became a Director of Research and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at several NYC based medical institutions.
Through all his experiences helping patients at different medical facilities, SS saw the need to bring all the resources needed by patients under one roof. So as Director and Chief Research Scientist of the Tisch Multiple Sclerosis Research Center of New York, everything is there: research, occupational therapy, social work, nutrition counselling, MRIs and physical therapy involving rooms for working with weights– all on two floors of a building on 57th Street in Manhattan, plus the center’s research arm, a nonprofit business supported in part with funding from the Tisch family, which has space for lab animals and for growing experimental tissues.
Says SS, “Above all, I think the secret to the success of the Tisch MS Research Center is that there is a real and genuine connection between the patients and the doctor that embodies the very best in medicine… true compassion, dedication, humility and knowing that the doctor is indeed honored and privileged to be a healing servant of the patient.”
Patients tell of speaking with SS until they ran out of questions, that he saw them on a Saturday so they could have their normal life, that he gave them his cell-phone number. One patient of 23 years once heard SS’ cell phone ring while he was performing a spinal tap. He said to her, “You see, this is the only time I won’t answer my phone, because I have your spine in my hands – otherwise I would answer.”
CAREER SATISFACTION
SS, age 68 in 2023, is fond of describing himself as a “very boring-in-general guy” and “just an old man working” who occasionally attends a Yankees game. “But I am too busy, so mostly I give my tickets away.”
“This is my dream, I love what I do, my life is this,” SS has said of his research and clinical practice. He feels that he has “limited time” and “I hope to find these things” – meaning better treatments for M.S., “quickly.”
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This career story is based on several sources including an article written by Rivka Galchen, published within The New Yorker magazine on July 24, 2023, plus internet research.
