Epilepsy, Sleep, and Clinical Neurophysiology News

Irene Abella, MSN, APRN, a Doctor of Nursing Practice student in the Duke University School of Nursing and a nurse practitioner at the Duke Sleep Disorders Center, had to read her acceptance letter to the University Scholar program several times before she believed the news that she was selected as Duke University School of Nursing’s fall 2021 University Scholar. 

She has spent 29 years in nursing and has been at Duke since 2015.

As a medical student, Mohanad AlGaeed, MD, was fascinated by the way a simple neurological history and exam could allow doctors to localize a problem and make an appropriate diagnosis. He decided to specialize in epilepsy and is now completing his training in our new epilepsy fellowship program.

This July, new research from the Duke Neurology Department answered questions about the subcellular origins of itching, how COVID-19 is affecting people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, what factors influence people eligible for epilepsy surgery to move forward with the procedure and topics. The paragraphs below summarize the 11 articles appearing in peer-reviewed publications from our faculty, staff, and trainees. Check them out and find links to the original publications below.

Neuromuscular Disease

Yash Shah, MD, knew his life’s calling as a young doctor, after seeing the resilience and faith of the mother of a five-year old boy with cerebral palsy and intractable epilepsy. He started a master’s degree in epidemiology in addition to his neurology residency so he could conduct research while also treating children with epilepsy. Now Shah is completing his training at the Duke Neurology Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship Program. 

In Uganda, a person who suffers the repeated seizures associated with epilepsy is most likely to seek help first from a traditional or spiritual healer, which may not be surprising considering that two-thirds of Ugandans say they believe seizures may be caused by spiritual influences, such as ancestral determinism, witchcraft, or demonic possession.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department advanced the fields of clinical, translational, and basic neuroscience this April with 14 new peer-reviewed studies. Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD, was the senior author of a new study in Science that  expands our understanding of the integrated stress response in the brain and how it influences learning and memory.

Deborah Koltai, PhD, (Associate Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Neurology, School of Medicine) and Jason Somarelli, PhD (Assistant Professor in Medicine, School of Medicine) are the winners of the 2021 Bass Connections Leadership Award.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 21 new studies in peer-reviewed journals this March, advancing our ability to understand, treat, and prevent diseases and conditions from across the field of neurology. Brian Mac Grory, MB BCh, MRCP, and other members of our stroke and vascular neurology helped answer questions about the best way to treat patients who have a stroke in their sleep.

As a medical student, Ashley Miller, MD, received a piece of advice that she took to heart: choose a field that you enjoy reading about, since you’ll be reading about that subject for the rest of your career. Several years later, she’s still enjoying reading about and practicing sleep medicine as a fellow within the Duke Neurology Department.

Steven Gangloff, MD, is always looking for opportunities to learn and innovate. A high school baking project led to an interest in food dehydration and eventually, a series of cookbooks. As a resident, Gangloff built on a lifelong interest in technology to enhance telemedicine capabilities at his local Veteran’s Affairs (VA) center and create an educational platform to help other residents with their board exams. Now as one of our clinical neurophysiology fellows, he’s bringing that passion to help patients with epilepsy and other conditions at Duke and the Durham VAMC.