Giants of MS Honoree Jenelle Montgomery on Building a Pharmacist’s Role in MS Care—One Patient at a Time

In this conversation, Montgomery reflects on how a background in neuroscience and a passion for patient education led her to carve out an indispensable role on the MS care team and why she believes pharmacists are the critical bridge between a daunting diagnosis and a patient’s first step toward treatment.

Q: Can you introduce yourself, your institution, and anything else?

Jenelle Montgomery, PharmD, BCACP, CPP: My name is Jenelle Hall Montgomery. I'm a clinical pharmacist practitioner with Duke Neurology Clinic at Duke University Hospital.

Q: Last weekend at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) 2026 Annual Meeting, you were recognized as one of the Giants of MS. So, what does that mean to you, and what was going through your mind when you found that out?

Montgomery: It was a really big honor to receive this award. I think the thing that went through my mind was just how far I've come since I first started in an MS clinic, about 10 years ago at this point. When I first started, I wasn't familiar with the disease state. Like I really started from scratch. And the fact that I've been able to not only build myself a role in the clinic but also share best practices, things that have been successful versus things that have been challenging, with other pharmacists who are new in the space.

The other thing that crossed my mind was just the fact that I've come such a long way since the beginning and just being able to share what I've learned with others and having that being acknowledged was a really big honor.

Q: How did you find your way into MS care specifically, and what drew you to that?

Montgomery: Yeah, so originally when I went to undergrad at Emory University, my major was actually in neuroscience and behavioral biology, so I've always had an interest in neuroscience. And then when I was at pharmacy school at the University of North Carolina, they had me on rotation in several neurology clinics; a neurology clinic was inpatient and outpatient as well. So, I just really have always been drawn to kind of this kind of area of practice. So, you know, when I had the opportunity to join the neurology clinic at Duke 10 years ago, right out of residency, it was just like the perfect fit. So, it's a combination of helping patients, combined with sharing my knowledge about pharmacy and just my love for neurology. So that's kind of what drew me to the job.

Q: What does your day-to-day role look like in the clinic, and how has that evolved over your career?

Montgomery: Day to day, I see patients in clinic, so several days a week, I am at one particular clinic where I see patients who have multiple sclerosis and epilepsy as well. And then at another clinic I help with our movement disorders team. I see patients in that clinic, as well, as part of an interdisciplinary team, so patients specifically for MS are placed on my schedule.

The providers will kind of discuss disease-modifying therapy (DMT) options with the patient; they will share that information with me, and then I will see them specifically to help them decide on which medication might be best for them. So I go through how the medication works, side effects, administration, and any drug interaction concerns and talk about a high-efficacy treatment approach versus, you know, starting at like a low- or moderate-efficacy treatment approach. So, just kind of going through all of the details about MS medications with the patient and doing the shared decision-making process with them.

And then I also do some symptom management as well. So, if they have any symptoms that they take medications for, I will walk through the same process with them. It's still like, you know, are they on the best dose? Are they having side effects? Do we need to increase the dose or change it? And kind of go through that process. So that's kind of what my day-to-day looks like, specifically for MS: discussing DMTs as well as symptom management.

Q: When you think about all the patients you've worked with over the years, what keeps you motivated to push for better care and better practice models?
Montgomery: Yeah, so I think pharmacists are a critical part of the team.

I think we provide a really nice bridge for the patient from the provider visit to getting started on their medication.

I think a lot of patients are overwhelmed; some are scared about disease-modifying therapies. So, we're able to kind of provide that bridge to be able to answer their questions and discuss any concerns they have. A lot of people go online and learn information there, and we're able to talk about whether that information is accurate versus things that are inaccurate. So, I think we make patients more comfortable with starting their MS treatments. And I really think we play a critical role in that piece, as well as making sure the patient gets their medication without having too many hiccups along the way. So, I think that we've kind of played 2 critical roles there.