Register Now for the ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Patient Community Day

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall at one of those big medical conferences where the latest multiple sclerosis (MS) research is presented and discussed? Ever wanted to wander through scores of clinical trial posters and chat with the experts behind them?

Or, perhaps, might you want to sit in a room with those driving MS research and treatment and have your questions answered?

Well, now you have a chance to do at least some of that.

Upcoming Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS MS Conference

This year, the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) and its counterpart, the American Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ACTRIMS), will hold their 10th joint meeting in Toronto in October 2026.

Only ever happening nine times in the past, this is a big deal!

What Happens at an ECTRIMS or ACTRIMS Conference?

The ECTRIMS annual congress is the largest gathering of international MS researchers in the world. I’ve attended in the past and hope to this year as well (more on that in a bit).

Practitioners and scientists from dozens of countries come to share, learn, and discuss, and to collectively determine what looks like the best courses of action for people living with MS.

The ACTRIMS events are more focused on delegates from the United States and Canada, whence a great deal of MS research comes.

The joint meeting is a unique gathering at an important time for people with MS — as well as those with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease, two other diseases that, like MS, involve autoimmune attacks on myelin.

Patient Community Day

Once again this year, Australia-based MS Translate is helping ECTRIMS in organizing a Patient Community Day at the end of the congress. You can see more details and register here.

If you can’t make it to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, October 23, in person, you can still register and join the event online. There will be an additional hour of Q&A for online attendees after panel discussions have concluded.

Registration for either in-person or online attendance is free of charge. This is our chance to not only listen to but also contribute to the conversation about multiple sclerosis research as we move into the middle part of the 21st century.

If I’m Not There in Person, I’ll Be There Online

I hope to be taking part in the 2026 Patient Community Day, as I did in Copenhagen in 2024 (you can still hear the podcast I contributed to about it), as well as attending and reporting from the meetings and research panels. Funding and recovery from an upcoming surgery will need to fall into place (no pun intended) for that to happen.

I look forward to the possibility of attending in person, but if the pieces don’t align, I’ll assuredly register and tune in via the online portals to see what’s going on in the wide, wide world of MS research and treatment come October. I hope you’ll be there too.

Wishing you and your family the best of health.

Cheers,

Trevis