Professor Sandra Vukusic is being recognized for her major scientific contributions to the understanding of women’s health, pregnancy, and sex-related differences in treatment regarding multiple sclerosis (MS).
Her work, spanning a career of over twenty years, has played a decisive role in challenging the long-held belief that pregnancy worsens the course of MS in both the short and long term. Furthermore, she has been instrumental in developing clinical approaches for managing MS treatment around pregnancy, as well as in studying the interactions between medically assisted reproduction and disease progression.
In recent years, her research has also highlighted sex-based disparities in MS treatment. She and her team found that women of childbearing age with MS were prescribed high-efficacy medications at significantly lower rates than men, due to concerns—sometimes unfounded—regarding future pregnancies. This “therapeutic inertia” could lead to an increased risk of long-term disability for women.
This international prize is awarded under the auspices of the organization International Women in MS. Professor Emmanuelle Waubant, a member of the organization’s executive committee, notes that “her exceptional research has helped transform pregnancy care for women with MS,” enabling a shift “from a situation marked by uncertainty and the discontinuation of treatment to personalized planning for reproduction and care.”
Professor Vukusic is the fourth recipient of the Rachel Horne Prize for research on MS in women. She will receive this international distinction on October 23, 2026, during the joint ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS congress to be held in Toronto, Canada.
