(USC Photo/Ricardo Carrasco III)

Lilyana Amezcua, MD, associate professor of clinical neurology, has received a three-year grant of $832,136 grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation to expand her work on multiple sclerosis and Hispanics/Latinx.

Amezcua received the grant for her proposed project “Improving Access to Care in Minorities with Multiple Sclerosis (AcTMS).”

Amezcua will continue to collaborate with the University of Miami and the Alliance for Research in Hispanic MS to “examine the relationship between social determinants of health (SDOH) and health care access and utilization” by Latinos/Latinx, according to the project summary. “The completion of this research plan has the capacity to increase our understanding of how SDOH influence health behaviors and outcomes in minorities with MS.  This information is necessary to develop a wider rational implementation plan to minimize disability in MS across the U.S.” 

She will also examine the feasibility of implementation of a clinical care navigator across a safety net health system (LAC+USC Medical Center) to make sure MS patients are getting to specialty care.