News

While Dellila Hodgson’s primary duties involve overseeing experiments in the lab of Ornit Chiba-Falek, PhD, Hodgson considers herself a teacher at heart. So when Hodgson saw an opportunity to teach local middle school students about translational neuroscience through the Duke BOOST (Building Opportunities and Overtures in Science and Technology) program, she jumped at the chance.

This July, members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 10 new peer-reviewed journal articles. Highlights of this research include a new study that found persistent associations between neighborhood income levels and poor outcomes for neurocritical care, a trio of studies that provide insights into the origins and development of Alzheimer’s disease, and a preliminary analysis of the merits of a potential off-label therapy for ALS.

Conducting clinical research is a complicated, time-consuming process, requiring careful monitoring of patients’ blood work, cognitive measures, and other data points over time, recording and analyzing that data, and then synthesizing it to look for long-term trends over time. Hailey Zampa, a clinical research coordinator in our Morreene Road Clinic, is a part of that effort for several potential treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Minji Jang, PhD, began her undergraduate studies wanting to be a teacher, but became fascinated by the underlying mechanisms behind emotions, especially during adolescence. After completing her doctorate, Jang joined the lab of Yong Chen, PhD, where she is studying the neural circuits behind orofacial pain and chronic itching. 

What do analyses of stroke rehabilitation techniques, new therapeutic targets for jaw pain, and guidelines to help sleep apnea patients cope with runny noses have in common? They’re all subjects of articles published by members of the Duke Neurology Department this April. Read the summaries below to learn more about the nine peer-reviewed journal articles members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to over the past 30 days, and find links to the original research below.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department shared their advances and insights in neurology education, health disparities, movement disorders, and other areas at the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) 75th annual meeting in Boston this week. This year, our faculty, staff, and trainees contributed more to the AAN than in any previous year, contributing to 20 posters and abstracts and six classes or sessions.

This March, new research from members of the Duke Neurology Department advanced our missions of patient care, translational and clinical research, and neurology training, contributing to 16 new peer-reviewed journal articles.

The consequences of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative movement disorders go beyond their physical symptoms. They also force people with these conditions, as well as their loved ones, to confront grief, anger, and a host of end-of-life concerns. Katherine Henderson, MDiv, the subject of this week’s Spotlight interview, recently joined our interdisciplinary Benchmark Clinic as a non-denominational chaplain to help Parkinson’s patients confront and work through these concerns.

Today is National Women Physician’s Day. This day was marked to honor the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman allowed to enter medical school in the United States. Despite being forced to sit in separately in lectures, being excluded from labs, and facing other forms of discrimination Blackwell graduated first in her class in 1849, and went on to a long and distinguished career, improving physician handwashing, opening the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, and training nurses for Union hospitals during the Civil War.

In 2002, Teikko Artis was in a bind. A year after starting at Duke, Artis enjoyed his work as a patient service advocate in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. But with bills piling up, a four-year-old daughter to support, and his own long-term financial security to think of, he needed more money. Artis started to plan how to advance his career.