My name is Denise Bruen and I’m a nurse practitioner in the neurology clinic at UVA Medical Center. I specialize in treating patients with multiple sclerosis and demyelinating disorders. When I was a teenager, I had to have spinal surgery. And when I was in the hospital, the nurses made a huge impression on me in terms of what I wanted to be when I grew older. So I knew very early on I wanted to be a nurse. I found the MS clinic and neurology as a whole, moreso in my later time of being a nurse practitioner, and one of the things that really set it apart to me that I enjoy the most is knowing these patients over a long period of time. Knowing them maybe when they’re first diagnosed and getting married, having children, growing older and living with the disease and going along that whole journey with them. I'm passionate about taking care of the entire patient. I think that’s one of the reasons patients do travel so far to come see us. There are other MS centers of excellence on the east coast, but a lot of patients come specifically to UVA to get their care here because I think we take care of the whole patient from top to toe as well as all the emotional aspects that can come as living with somebody with MS and I think that they get that when they come here, that they’re somebody individual, they each feel as an individual and not just another patient we’re taking care of.