Schedule and Speakers

MyoCon 2026: TMA’s Global Myositis Patient Conference

Learn. Connect. Thrive!
September 24–27, 2026
Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
315 Chestnut Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63102, USA

Engaging and exciting content will unfold over three-plus days while we celebrate our worldwide myositis community. Join us at MyoCon to uncover the latest scientific findings and collect tips for living well with myositis.

Opening Keynote Speaker

Meghan O’Rourke, “The Invisible Kingdom”

Friday, September 25

You may feel alone in your illness, but you are not alone. Meghan O’Rourke—New York Times best-selling author of The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness—shares her own decade of misdiagnosis and years of reporting on the rise of chronic illness at TMA’s Opening General Session. Autoimmune diseases, which include conditions like myositis, are often called invisible diseases because they are poorly understood, frequently dismissed, and undiagnosed for years; they leave patients to navigate not only their symptoms but the loneliness of not being believed. Weaving the personal with the scientific, and drawing on her book, Meghan offers an invitation to feel seen, to find language for what is hard to name, and to discover what becomes possible when we stop suffering in silence and speak together.

Meghan O’Rourke is a writer, poet, and editor. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness (2022); the bestselling memoir The Long Goodbye (2011); and the poetry collections Sun In Days (2017), which was named a New York Times Best Poetry Book of the Year. In October 2026, O’Rourke will publish a new anthology, The Story of the Body: Poems of Illness and Recovery. With 82 of the best English-language poems about the experience of illness including selections by George Herbert, Sylvia Plath, Jericho Brown, and many more, it’s a book for people who are sick, for friends of those who are ill, for caretakers—for all of us.

Currently the executive editor of The Yale Review, she began her career as a fiction and nonfiction editor at The New Yorker. Since then, she has served as culture editor and literary critic for Slate as well as poetry editor and advisory editor for The Paris Review. Her essays, criticism, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Slate, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, and Best American Poetry, among others. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she also teaches.

O’Rourke is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Fellowship, a Whiting Nonfiction Award, the May Sarton Poetry Prize, the Union League Prize for Poetry from the Poetry Foundation, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and two Pushcart Prizes.

Closing Keynote Speaker

Mike Bush, “The Strength in Us: Stories of Kindness, Courage and Hope“

Sunday, September 27

For 41 years, Mike Bush has been one of St. Louis’ most trusted storytellers — first as sports director, then as a longtime news anchor at KSDK-TV (NBC), the market’s top-rated station. A 106-time Regional Emmy Award winner, three-time National Edward R. Murrow Award recipient, and NATAS Silver Circle honoree, Mike has built a career on finding and sharing the moments that reveal the very best in people.

Mike is best known across the region for “Making a Difference,” his signature series of feature stories spotlighting everyday people doing extraordinary things. Over the decades, those stories have introduced viewers to survivors, caregivers, first responders, kids overcoming enormous odds, and communities rallying around one another in the hardest moments.

That same instinct for lifting up courage and hope is what has made Mike a fixture of the disability and health-advocacy community. He has hosted the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon for 40 consecutive years, sharing the stories of families and individuals living with neuromuscular disease and helping raise millions of dollars in support of research, care, and hope. He is also the longtime emcee, reporter, and producer of the Musial Awards, the nationally televised celebration of sportsmanship broadcast on CBS, now in its 21st year under his stewardship.

In August 2026, Mike retired as KSDK’s main anchor after 41 years in that chair — but not from storytelling. He now carries the title of Anchor Emeritus, continuing to produce reports for KSDK alongside other work close to his heart. Mike has a rare, firsthand vantage point on the strength it takes to live with a chronic or rare disease — and the strength it takes to show up for someone who does. It’s the perspective at the heart of his TMA keynote, “The Strength in Us: Stories of Kindness, Courage and Hope,” built from the real people he has met at the intersection of struggle and resilience.

Register for MyoCon

Our Distinguished Speakers

More than 50 speakers will enlighten and entertain TMA attendees this year, with experts and fellow myositis patients addressing the hottest topics. Presenters include:

• Robert C. Bucelli, MD, PhD – Professor of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Co-Director of the WashU Medicine Myositis Clinic
• Richard Brown – Senior Manager, Development & Strategy, Patient Assistance Foundation
• Mike Bush – News Anchor (Ret.), KSDK-TV (NBC); 106-time Regional Emmy Award winner; three-time National Edward R. Murrow Award recipient; NATAS Silver Circle honoree
• Madge Chambers – Co-leader, TMA Worldwide, IMNM Patient Advocate
• Emily Cole, MD – Assistant Professor of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Division of Dermatology
• Monique Costello, LCSW – Social Worker, Washington University School of Medicine, Neuromuscular Division
• Bennett Darling – ASyS Patient Advocate
• Rich DeAugustinis – CEO, DeAugustinis Associates LLC; Chair, TMA Board of Directors
• Mazen Dimachkie, MD – Professor of Neurology, Executive Vice Chairman Department of Neurology, and Clinical Director Neuromuscular Division, University of Kansas Medical Center School of Medicine
• A. Brooke Eastham, MD – General and Medical Dermatologist, Nashville Skin
• Paula J. Eichenbrenner, MBA, CAE – Executive Director, TMA
• Joe Feidt – IBM Patient Advocate
• Keith T. Ferguson, MD – Assistant Professor of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine; Associate Director of SSM Saint Louis University Hospital Medical Intensive Care Unit; Medical Director of SSM Saint Louis University Hospital VV-ECMO Program, Saint Louis University
• David R. Fernandez, MD, PhD – Rheumatologist, Hospital for Special Surgery
• Suzan Fischbein, LCSW – Senior Social Work Coordinator II, Myositis Support Program, Hospital for Special Surgery
• Richard (Chip) Galloway, Jr. – Staff Accountant, Cantey, Tiller, Pierce & Green, LLP (Ret.); Treasurer, TMA Board of Directors
• Rebecca Anna Gersten, MD – Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; Director, Breathlessness Clinic, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Lindsay Guentzel – Journalist and producer, CBS Radio affiliate WCCO Radio and Minnesota Public Radio; Leader, TMA Minnesota & Wisconsin Myositis Support Group
• Latika Gupta, MD, MRCP, DM – Consultant Rheumatologist, Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust; Clinical Associate Professor, University of Birmingham
• Julio Huapaya, MD – Staff Clinician, Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Stephanie Hunn, DPT – Clinical Research Specialist and Clinical Trial Manager, Neuromuscular Group, Washington University in St. Louis
• Holly Jones – Founder, HERStory in Color; Coleader, TMA Women of Color Affinity Group; Member, TMA Board of Directors
• Jan Jones, MSN, RN, IgCN – Clinical Patient Advocate, CSI Pharmacy
• Christina Keys – CEO and Founder, Keys for Caregiving, National Voice and Strategic Leader in Caregiving & Aging Advocacy
• Grace Kranstover – Vice President, CRD Associates
• Jonathan Kruger, MD – Rheumatology Medical Director, Community Clinic; University of Utah School of Medicine
• Valérie Leclair, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Medicine, McGill University; Rheumatologist, Jewish General Hospital; Member, TMA Medical Advisory Board
• Christian Lood, PhD – Associate Professor, Division of Rheumatology, University of Washington
• Georgia A. Malandraki, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-S, ASHA Fellow – Head, Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Member, TMA Medical Advisory Board
• Cynthia Marks, Ed.D. – IBM Care Partner; Coleader, TMA Georgia
• Carrie McCulloch, MD – Senior Director, Physician Engagement at Priovant Therapeutics
• Kristin McGee – Founder and Instructor, Kristin McGee Movement
• Susan McLoughlin – Coleader, TMA Kansas and Western Missouri, Patient Advocate
• Anahit C. Mehrabyan, MD – Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Neuromuscular Disorders, Department of Neurology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Craig Miller, PT, MPH – Regional Director of Therapy, Total Care Therapy; Member, TMA Board of Directors
• Gwenyth Miller – General Manager, Club Pilates; JDM Patient Advocate
• Lance Millington – Member, TMA Board of Directors; PM Patient Advocate
• Tahseen Mozaffar, MD – Professor of Neurology, Pathology, and Laboratory Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, Irvine
• Jane Myles – Vice Chair, TMA Board of Directors
• Elie Naddaf, MD, PhD – Associate Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic; Vice Chair, TMA Medical Advisory Board
• Meghan O’Rourke – New York Times best-selling author, The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness
• Julie Paik, MD, MHS – Associate Professor of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University; Director of Clinical Trials and Co-director, Johns Hopkins Myositis Center; Chair, TMA Medical Advisory Board
• Ralph and Karen Perkul – IBM Patient Advocates
• Stefanie Remson MSN, APRN, FNP-BC – Owner and Founder, RheumatoidArthritisCoach.com
• Didem Saygin, MD – Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology; Director, Rush Myositis Center; Rush University Medical Center
• Adam I. Schiffenbauer, MD – Deputy Director, Environmental Autoimmunity Group, Office of Clinical Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH); Member and Vice Chair of the Research Grants Committee, TMA Medical Advisory Board
• Deepali Sen, MD – Rheumatologist and Co-director, WashU Medicine Myositis Clinic, Washington University School of Medicine
• Barbara Shaw, DNP, APN, FNP-C – Assistant Professor, Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Rush University
• Malati Shinazy, M.Ed., C.C.M.P. – Leader of TMA Flying Solo Affinity Group and Co-leader of TMA Hawai’i, Northern California, Oregon & Washington IBM Support Group; IBM Patient Advocate
• Nataliya Slater, PhD – Research Fellow, Murdoch University and the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Research
• Jennifer Swisher, MPAP, PA-C – Assistant Professor and Clinical Faculty, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University
• Catherine “Kitty” Trejo – Co-leader, TMA Rainbow Affinity Group; Co-founder and past co-leader, TMA Northern California
• Guillermo J. Valenzuela, MD, F.A.C.R. – Medical Director, Integral Rheumatology & Immunology Specialists and IRIS Research and Development; Past President, Florida Society of Rheumatology
• Manouela Valtcheva, MD, PhD –Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neuromuscular Section, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
• Mark Vieth – Senior Vice President, CRD Associates
• David Volk – Co-leader of TMA Worldwide and TMA Missouri & Illinois Support Groups; IBM Patient Advocate
• Donna Volk – IBM Care Partner
• Conrad (Chris) Weihl, MD, PhD – Neurologist and Neuromuscular Medicine; Professor of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis
• Julie Wells – Director of Strategic Relationships, Give An Hour, Mental Health. For Life.
• Victoria Werth, MD – Professor of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania; Chief of Dermatology, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Member and Liaison to TMA Board of Directors, TMA Medical Advisory Board

Register for MyoCon