Sigler will appear in a January episode as Dr. Laura Kaplan, a urologist with multiple sclerosis.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler to play doctor with MS on Grey’s Anatomy amid real-life battle with disease

Sigler will appear in a January episode as Dr. Laura Kaplan, a urologist with multiple sclerosis.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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December 11, 2025 10:25 p.m. ET

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Jamie-Lynn Sigler in New York City on June 13. Credit:

Michael Loccisano/Getty

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is returning to the small screen.

Three years since her last time on TV, Sigler has staked out a major comeback with an upcoming guest role on *Grey's Anatomy*. Sigler will portray Dr. Laura Kaplan, a urologist living with MS, in the Jan. 15 episode "Heavy on Me." The casting comes amid Sigler's own public battle with the chronic autoimmune disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2002 and went public with in 2016.

Sigler confirmed the casting on Thursday with a post to Instagram, sharing a first look at her new character.

Chandra Wilson, Ellen Pompeo, and James Pickens Jr. on 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Sigler's Dr. Kaplan comes to the series' central setting of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital at the call of Debbie Allen's Dr. Catherine Fox, a fellow urologist. On the recent season 22 mid-season finale, James Pickens Jr.'s Dr. Richard Webber revealed he was diagnosed with cancer, something Pickens just went through off-screen. As a working doctor with a chronic disease, Dr. Kaplan will share helpful insights with Dr. Webber following his diagnosis.

Per Deadline Hollywood, the role was created for Sigler, who has become one of the most outspoken advocates for transparency around living with MS and other chronic conditions of its kind.

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Sigler lived with MS for years before going public with her struggle. She reflected on her decision to finally let her millions of fans and admirers in on her diagnosis in a 2017 interview with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in which she shared, "I used to think it was better to have people not know than to have people help me. Over the years, living like that took its toll, not just physically but emotionally."

The actress and her friend in the MS fight, Christina Applegate, launched the podcast *MeSsy *in 2020, in which they discuss the struggles of living with the condition.

"It's not about the specific experience we're having. It's us facing something hard, and it's about figuring out how to still push through," Sigler said at the time. "I've never been more...nervous isn't the word, but like a good anxious about any project I've ever put out more than this, because I care so deeply about it. We are sharing the deepest parts of ourselves."**

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Sigler is one among a recent wave of actors living with chronic conditions and disabilities to portray the experience in various film and TV roles.

Eric Dane, who revealed in April that he'd been diagnosed with ALS, portrayed a firefighter living with the neurodegenerative condition in a recent episode of the NBC drama *Brilliant Minds*. In May, Michael J. Fox, who has lived with Parkinson's since 1991, announced that he will return to acting with a role on Apple TV+'s *Shrinking* as a man with the neurological disorder.**

*Grey's Anatomy* returns on ABC on Thursday evenings beginning on Jan. 8, 2026.****

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