There was a point a few years ago that Chef Michelle Bernstein thought her livelihood was finished.

The James Beard Award-winning chef, who has appeared on cooking competitions like Top Chef and Chopped, said she began to feel joint pain that increased in severity around 2018.

Suddenly, her ability to move around a kitchen and use heavy pots and pans was diminished. Soon thereafter, even being able to get out of bed to go to the bathroom became a nearly impossible task.

“In my mind, it was like, ‘Oh my god, is this the end of my career? What’s going on with me?’” she told MM+M. 

After a series of visits with doctors didn’t yield answers or treatments that reduced her pain, Bernstein enlisted the services of a rheumatologist in the Miami area. The doctor examined her and found a small patch of psoriasis on her leg, which led him to diagnose her with psoriatic arthritis. 

She was prescribed Cosentyx and said she felt near-instant relief from the symptoms that had plagued her for years. 

“I tried it and I just feel so lucky because I know that some people don’t get relief like I did,” she said.

A subsequent conversation with Novartis, the Swiss drugmaker that manufactures Cosentyx, led to a collaboration that culminated in a recent culinary demonstration in New York.

Bernstein hosted a cooking seminar featuring her favorite dishes as part of Novartis’ PsAvor Lifecampaign, where she also detailed how she manages her condition with the help of Cosentyx. 

The campaign’s website also features cooking videos with Bernstein highlighting recipes that use lighter pans as well as “little tricks of the trade” to make cooking easier for people living with psoriatic arthritis.

Partnering with Novartis came from Bernstein’s desire to use her profile as a well-known chef to serve as a patient ambassador and empower other people living with the condition to continue looking at all available options to address their pain.

She acknowledges the chronic nature of psoriatic arthritis and the fact that she’ll “never be healed,” but said other patients can learn from her story in order to identify the symptoms earlier in the process and seek care from their doctor sooner.

Considering more than 800,000 Americans live with the disease, there are plenty who can heed Bernstein’s advice and look for treatment options that are right for them. 

Gail Horwood, chief marketing and customer experience officer, innovative medicines / U.S. at Novartis, told MM+M that the company is committed to providing educational resources and tools to this sizable patient population.

She said the effectiveness of PsAvor Life comes from listening to the community’s needs and their feedback on how they want to be communicated with on the topic. For Horwood, that meant utilizing plain language in the marketing materials and detailing pragmatic expectations for living with the condition.

“We want to bring these stories to life in realistic and meaningful ways while also distributing the content in the context of where people will discover it and enjoy it,” she said. 

Novartis continues to lean on patient advocates for its campaigns highlighting chronic, painful skin conditions.

Months before Bernstein’s cooking demo, the company premiered its docuseries about hidradenitis suppurativa, The Beacons: Illuminating HS Stories, at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. 

Citing the stigmatization that surrounds the condition and can lower patients’ self esteem, the docuseries was intended to empower patients and encourage them to speak honestly about their experiences.