Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 12 new peer-reviewed journal articles published this August. Highlights include a review article examining evoked potentials used for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s, the healthcare received by veterans with epilepsy, the optimal stroke treatments for patients with cerebral venous thrombosis, and other topics.

Danelvis Paredes, MD, MPH, felt her first callings to neurology at the age of 15, when she learned about the neurobiology of drug addiction while working at a college laboratory. Later, that interest was cemented after she saw how a neurology exam could elegantly and quickly localize patients’ problems. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Paredes talks to us about her day-to-day life as a chief resident and how her master’s in public health influences her perspective as a clinician.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke University Hospital as the top hospital in North Carolina and the 23rd best across the nation for neurology and neurosurgery in its 2022-2023 hospital rankings. The annual rankings, which assessed more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide, analyze and integrate dozens of medical and surgical services.

Amanda Cotton, RN, has two roles helping patients at Duke with multiple sclerosis (MS). Cotton helps newly diagnosed patients understand the disease and how they can find a way to live fulfilling lives with the condition. Cotton also helps returning patients receive the therapies that best meet their needs.

Nathan “Troy” Tagg, MD, has been fascinated in both vision and the brain and nervous system since his first year of medical school. Now, he’s following both of those passions as a neuro-ophthalmologist and neuro-immunologist at Duke. For this week’s “Faculty Spotlight” interview, Tagg talks to us about an early learning module that cemented his interests, the joys of helping patients with their vision, and enjoying outdoor time with family when he’s not at Duke.

As a medical student, Paige Sutton, MD, received the following advice: choose a specialty where you won’t constantly check your watch waiting for the day to end. Sutton chose neurology and neuroimmunology in particular and has never looked back. For this week’s Spotlight interview, our current multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuroimmunology fellow talks about her time as a fellow so far, working with patients to make decisions that are best for their lifestyles and preferences, and enjoying hiking, playing the guitar and exploring North Carolina when she’s not at Duke.

Since childhood, Nidhila Masha has been fascinated by the human brain as a “final frontier” still open for additional discoveries and study despite the advances of modern science. Now, as a third-year medical student at the Duke University School of Medicine, she’s exploring that frontier--and upending conventional wisdom--with a research project examining therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Masha talks to us about how her research will help patients with MS make more informed decisions about their therapy choices.

The first month of 2022 saw the publication of 18 new peer-reviewed journal articles from members of the Duke Neurology Department. Highlights include a new article in Lancet Neurology discussing the epidemiology, diagnostics, and  biomarkers of autoimmune neuromuscular junction disorders, case reports describing the progression and treatment options for rare neurological conditions, and a summary of how the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic affects neurology residency programs in the United States.

The Duke Neurology Department continued to grow and expand its missions of providing excellent clinical care, conducting research to improve our understanding of neurological conditions and how to treat them, and training the next generation of neurologists throughout 2021.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to seventeen peer-reviewed research studies published this August. Members of the lab of Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD, discovered that a medication created to treat patients with HIV may help people with dystonia. New translational research provided the most accurate atlas of the mouse model to date and answered questions about late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.