News

Duke Neurology 2021: A year in review (part 1 of 2)

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.

Staff Spotlight: Jeison Valencia

Jeison Valencia has been inspired to pursue science and laboratory research since age 7, after he watched an episode of the Powerpuff Girls, in which a scientist creates the three female superheroes. Now, as a member of the Chiba-Falek lab, the lab technician is performing analyses on brain tissue to better understand the roots of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Duke Neurology Research Round Up, December 2021

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 14 new peer-reviewed journal articles written this November. Highlights include an analysis of fragmentation within the delivery of neurological health care, an examination of racial disparities in the use of telehealth, and a discussion of the best ways to use social medicine to share news on epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology. Read the paragraphs below for short summaries of each of these 14 articles, as well as links to the original entries themselves.

Memory Disorders

Staff Spotlight: Miranda Shipman

As an undergraduate, Miranda Shipman studied drawing and painting, teaching art and managing a gallery until she developed a rare brain tumor. After she had the tumor removed, Shipman developed a passion for neuroscience, with the hope of helping to discover new treatments. Now she’s helping to do just that in the lab of Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD, where she’s screening compounds to help people living with dystonia.

Duke Neurology Research Round Up, November 2021

This October, members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 12 new peer-reviewed journal articles, advancing our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, chronic pain, and other conditions. These articles include discussions of the best framework for neuroscience curricula for medical students, the discovery of an existing experimental drug which offers a new avenue for treating pain without potential addiction issues, and an examination of the viability of ketogenic diets as an alternative treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Staff Spotlight: Ashley Moore, MS, MA-T

Within the lab of Carlene Moore, PhD, Ashley Moore, MS, MAT, (no relation) does “a little bit of everything,” acting as a lab manager, performing western blots, teaching and guiding undergraduate research students and more--and that’s just how she likes it. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Moore talks to us about this work, how her five years of experience as a public school teacher inform her work, and loving concerts and baking for family and friends when she’s not at work.

Staff Spotlight: Kathryn Lennon

As one of the Grants & Contracts Administrators within the School of Medicine’s Research Administration Support Resource (RASR), Kathryn Lennon helps manage funded research projects from the cradle to the grave. For this week’s “Spotlight” interview, Lennon talks to us about what she enjoys most about her work, shares the favorite grant she’s currently a part of), and enjoying her farm with Nigerian goats and a miniature donkey as well as visiting state parks with her family when she’s not at Duke.

Staff Spotlight: Tiffany Tran

As our Movement Disorders clinic’s newest clinical  research coordinator, Tiffany Tran has what she sees as “the best of both worlds”: opportunities to interact with patients living with movement disorders as well as chances to learn more about clinical research through ongoing studies that are occurring at Duke.

Duke Neurology Research Round Up, September 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.