Parkinson's Disease And Movement Disorders News

One year after coming to our Morreene Road Clinic, Crystal Ballard still enjoys the challenges and opportunities that come with her work. Each day her job involves supporting our neurology providers, supervising staff assistants, preparing patients for clinic and other tasks. For this week’s “Spotlight” interview, Ballard talks to us about this work, her various positions at Duke over the past 20 years, and embracing and adapting to the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clinical social worker Allison Allen, MSW, LCSW, is a member of the committee that plans the annual Social Worker of the Year award celebration. She thought it was odd she hadn't heard how the department would recognize this year's recipient virtually. That's because she was the 2020 awardee.

“We were having our weekly virtual check-in and I realized my bio was being read," Allen said. “My husband then entered our home office with our kids and presented me the award. Previous winners are my mentors, so it was humbling to be this year's recipient."

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 14 new peer-reviewed articles published this July, improving our understanding of neuroscience, charting a course for research in a post-COVID-19 world, and offering opportunities for advancing patient care. Simon Gregory, PhD, and Yong Chen, PhD, respectively co-authored articles offering new therapeutic avenues for muscle repair and chronic pain treatment. Wuwei “Wayne” Feng, MD, MS, was part of a consortium examining the impact of COVID-19 on the NIH’s StrokeNet and offering a vision for resuming clinical trials.

Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD, and Al La Spada, MD, PhD, have been awarded distinguished professorships from Duke University. Duke University awarded distinguished professors to 28 faculty members this year, with 12 coming from the School of Medicine. Distinguished professorships are awarded to faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary scholarship in advancing science and improving human health. 

Two undergraduate students working in labs in the Duke Neurology Department were joint recipients of Duke’s 2020 “Outstanding Senior Thesis in Neuroscience” award. Kunal Shroff worked for three years in the lab of Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD, where he studied the molecular mechanisms underlying DYT1 dystonia. Vivian Chen worked in the lab of Ornit Chiba-Falek, MD, PhD, where she helped examine the genetic processes underpinning Alzheimer’s and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lacy Rardin, MSW, LCSWA, helped families with movement or memory disorders cope with their diagnosis, find support, and navigate life with their conditions in our Morreene Road Clinic. Now, she’s providing the same resources and help to those patients virtually via telephone or video calls.

Nina Willis had been working at our Movement Disorders Clinic at Morreene Road for almost a decade when the COVID-19 epidemic reached the United States. Now she’s helping patients with movement disorders get the care they need via telehealth. In this week’s “spotlight” interview, Willis talks to us about how her work has changed over the past month, how the new telehealth visits are benefiting patients, and how her faith and her colleagues help her get through difficult times.

This February, members of the Duke Department of Neurology contributed to 10 new research articles in peer-reviewed journals. At the microscopic level, new studies examined how ion channels in endothelial cells may contribute to hypertension associated with obesity, and reviewed how DNA damage contributes to neuronal death in Parkinson’s disease. And at the system-wide level, our Stroke team discussed the massive IMPROVE Stroke Care project, which includes a network of nearly 100 hospitals, and hundreds of other agencies and communities.

In a continuous effort to evaluate curative therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Duke will soon be conducting a new pilot study that administers curcumin—an ingredient found in turmeric and curry powder associated with reduced inflammation—to evaluate the degree to which the microbiome in patients with ALS can be changed over time, potentially decreasing the rate of disease progression.

Members of the Duke Department of Neurology contributed to nine studies in peer-reviewed journals published in December 2019. In the fields of neurodegeneration and neuromuscular disease, our faculty found potential new avenues for therapies for spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) and myasthenia gravis. Other studies by our faculty and housestaff answered important questions about how reductions in blood pressure affect outcomes for thrombectomy, outcomes for deep brain stimulation for patients with Parkinson’s, and other areas.