MU Health Care physician and NextGen Precision Health researcher Ryan Castoro administers assessments with Kathryn Moss in an exam room at the Clinical and Translational Science Unit.
June 2, 2025
By Harper Snyder
A diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease ingrained a scientific curiosity in the young Kathryn Moss. CMT is a rare inherited neuromuscular disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system, with symptoms like muscle weakness and sensory abnormalities in the legs and sometimes arms. In high school, she decided to pursue a career in science to better understand the mechanisms underlying her diagnosis, without knowing what exactly the path would look like. Her journey ultimately led her to Mizzou, where she is now a NextGen Precision Health researcher and an assistant professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She focuses on the basic cellular and molecular science underlying our understanding of CMT to dig deeper into past findings and bridge gaps in the field. “Understanding what causes CMT helps us make smarter choices about how to treat it,” Moss explains.
Her efforts to investigate CMT do not stop at her own lab bench. She uses her status as a CMT patient to support other scientists in their search for answers by participating in clinical trials. “I’m strongly committed to supporting therapeutic discovery for CMT,” says Moss. This dual perspective – one as both a scientist and a clinical trial participant – leaves Moss with the rare opportunity to both collect data and contribute to it.