Chelsey Judge, PhD
Chelsey earned her immunology PhD at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016, and further studied immune mechanisms at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard. When her brother Connor became temporarily blinded and paralyzed by NMOSD in 2014, Chelsey and her mom, Pam Judge, co-founded the Judge family-based non-profit in her brother’s name, aiming to raise awareness and research funds for NMOSD. She joined Sanofi MS/Neurology in 2017, where she is currently a Field Medical Scientific Associate Director, separate from her advocacy work.
Chelsey is an advocate for biomedical research funding and clear scientific communication and education. The non-profit funding has contributed to multiple research projects, including nerve repair. The Judge family has launched the annual Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center NMO Patient Day, as well as statewide Rare Disease Day with the National Organization for Rare Disorders. These initiatives bring together patients, advocates, clinicians, researchers and policy makers in the shared mission to improve the lives of rare disease patients and families. Chelsey created and hosted the ‘Demystifying NMO’ podcast, a TSF collaboration. Her hope is for patients to be empowered with education to make informed shared decisions with their clinical care team.
