Aware of Rare: One Woman Wants the World to Know About SPS (Stiff Person Syndrome)

Health Care on the Horizon

Hi everyone!

If you had a rare disease, would you be fighting hard to find a way to make life better for others who also had it? Would you be working to find a cure for it? Well, that’s what my guest expert, Tara Zier, founder and president of The Stiff Person Syndrome Research Foundation (SPSRF) is doing.

Have you ever heard of Stiff Person Syndrome? Well, if you haven’t, you’re not alone. In fact, until very recently, I knew nothing about it myself. It’s a very rare disease that is extremely difficult to diagnose and can be extraordinarily debilitating, both physically and psychologically.

In this episode of Health Care on the Horizon, you’ll learn about such things as (1) who gets Stiff Person Syndrome, (2) how it presents itself, (3) why it IS so difficult to diagnose and treat, and (4) where to get help if you or someone you care about either has-- or wonders if they may have-- Stiff Person Syndrome. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, you’ll learn about the determined effort to get to the bottom of this disease, and make it much easier to diagnose and treat in the future.

That effort is being capably and persistently led by our guest expert today, Tara Zier. Dr. Tara Zier is the founder and president of The Stiff Person Syndrome Research Foundation, which she established in 2019 to raise awareness and funds for better treatments and a cure. In 2017, Tara was forced to leave a twenty-year career in dentistry and stop her practice of karate (she’s a 3rd degree black belt, by the way), due to Stiff Person Syndrome.

In 2021, The SPSRF was selected to receive a three-year “Rare As One” grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. And in 2022, Tara established a Medical Advisory Board which includes neurologists from Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University School, and the University of Athens Medical School.

Please visit www.jeff-ostroff.com to learn more about the various marketing and communications services my business offers, such as:

(1) podcast hosting, creation, and consulting

(2) production of audio or video "spotlight" profiles to promote you, your business, your products/services, etc.

(3) professional voice overs and interviewing

(4) meeting and event hosting or facilitation

(5) live webinars about "how to be luckier in your life," or to hear some of our "All Star" Looking Forward guest experts, and

(6) seniors marketing consulting. (I've written a Prentice-Hall book about that.)

** If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to tell your family, friends, and other members of YOUR network about it… and encourage them to listen to it, too. Also, please give it a "like" and/or a good review.

To discuss revenue-sharing opportunities to distribute our content-- which can be customized and reformatted to meet your needs and those of your target audience-- please contact us at www.jeff-ostroff.com

Health Care on the Horizon also offers a smart and affordable way for advertisers to promote their products or services, especially given its educational and informative nature and hopeful tone.