Epilepsy, Sleep, and Clinical Neurophysiology News

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.

Prachi Parikh, MD, had a lifelong interest in both math and physics which she maintained even as she entered medical school and her neurology residency. So when the study of epilepsy combined those interests along with the intricacies of the brain and an ability to help patients she knew the specialty would be for her. In this week’s “Spotlight” interview, the new addition to our faculty shares some of the intersections between neurology and women’s health.

Irene Abella, APRN, NP-C, never thought she would leave her first love, public health, for neurology. Fortunately for our Department, her initial stay in our neuro intensive care unit (or Neuro ICU) in 2008 infected her with a love of the field, and she has stayed with us ever since. In this week’s “Spotlight” interview, Abella talks to us about her nursing experience in the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, her current work treating (and listening to) patients with sleep disorders, and how Duke has changed in the 12 years since she arrived.

This November, research from members of the Duke Department of Neurology examined how different types of seizures feel to the person experiencing them, discovered genes associated with longevity and health cognition, analyzed how the COVID-19 outbreak impacted stroke care, and more. Our faculty, trainees, and staff contributed to 15 studies published in the past 30 days. Read about each of them, and find links to the original articles below. 

Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 14 new peer-reviewed studies this October, advancing our understanding of or ability to treat Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and other conditions. Laurie Sanders, PhD, and Claudia Gonzalez Hunt, PhD, advanced our understanding of the links between mitochondrial DNA damage and Parkinson’s disease, providing a potential avenue for future therapies.

Duke neurologists and electrical engineers are teaming up in an ambitious effort to develop a better way to monitor brain health for all patients in the ICU. Dubbed “Neurologic Injury Monitoring and Real-time Output Display,” the method will use machine learning and continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) data along with other clinical information to assist providers with assessment of brain injury and brain health.

The Duke Neurology Department’s Nada El Husseini, MD, and Andrew Spector, MD, both appeared in the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) AAN Alumni Leadership Newsletter for October 2020, where they discussed transforming telestroke during a global health crisis and how neurologists can reduce racial health disparities.

This September, members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 26 new studies, advancing our knowledge of neuroscience at the subcellular, national, and global levels. Ornit Chiba-Falek, PhD, and Laurie Sanders, PhD, lead studies that answered questions about the genetic origins of Parkinson’s disease and its connection to some forms of breast cancer.

This fall, a slew of neurology and brain-related events are happening at Duke, in our Department, on the University side, and within the School of Medicine and health system. Highlights of these events include our own Grand Rounds in Clinical Neuroscience every week, the Duke Comprehensive Epilepsy Center’s (DCEC) quarterly research symposium, a joint translational research and resident poster session, and lectures on blood biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, living with Parkinson’s disease, and other topics.