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Dr Mitzi Joi Williams is depicted 3 times in pop art style.

Black History Month: saluting Dr Mitzi Joi Williams, MS expert

Roxy

The theme of this year’s Black History Month is Saluting Our Sisters. With this theme in mind, I was asked to nominate someone in our community who’s had an impact on my journey with MS.

I’m nominating Dr Mitzi Joi Williams, a world-renowned MS expert and neurologist who works in America.

Not seeing people like me felt lonely

When I was diagnosed with MS, it felt so complicated and lonely not being able to see people like me. I decided to start a journey of finding people I could connect with.

My curiosity took me to American social media pages. There I connected with a variety of diverse individuals within our community. These people helped me start to navigate my MS and unravel my emotions. They also pointed me in the direction of Dr Mitzi herself.

Speaking about MS from a diverse perspective

Dr Mitzi was the neurologist and person I saw speak about MS from a diverse perspective.

She gave detailed speeches on best practice in representation and the importance of engaging ethnically diverse people in research. This helped me on my path to advocate for better ethnically diverse representation here in the UK for people with MS.

Two years later I found myself hosting a panel where Dr Mitzi and Dr Helen Ford were speaking on this exact topic. It felt divine. And it shows how important her voice is and has been for Black people's journey with MS. Especially those of us at the start of our journeys. 

Helping people navigate life with MS

With her research papers and brain chat podcast, she unravels MS in a way the community can understand.

She now even has a book that I cannot recommend highly enough for people living with MS. It’s called “You can live well with multiple sclerosis: a guide for navigating life after MS diagnosis.”

She continues to engage, educate, and empower a generation. So we too can be authors of our own health journeys, as co-producers while living with MS.

Find out more about Dr Mitzi Joi Williams on her Instagram, the nerdy neurologist

Saluting our Sisters

October is #BlackHistoryMonth. We're celebrating and sharing stories of iconic Black women within the MS community who've made an impact. Read more on our Instagram, Twitter or Facebook

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