Department of Neurology Archives

Angela Jefferson, PhD, is the founding director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, VUMC’s newest freestanding institutional center.

Jefferson selected for ELAM program

Jun. 23, 2022—Angela Jefferson, PhD, professor of Neurology and Medicine and founding director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, has been selected to participate in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program. ELAM®, a core program of Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, was established in 1995 to build a community of...

New Clinician Spotlight: Shailee Shah

May. 11, 2022—Shailee Shah, MD, MS, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as an assistant professor in the Division of Neuroimmunology within the Department of Neurology.

Autism and sleep problems

May. 10, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers developed a framework for using de-identified medical records to characterize sleep in people on the autism spectrum — a framework that should also be useful for studying other neurodevelopmental disorders.

New Clinician Spotlight: Aaron McMurtray

Apr. 26, 2022—Specializing in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, neurologist Aaron McMurtray, MD, PhD, recently joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as associate professor of Neurology.

Kalousová, Bolton receive Alzheimer’s Association awards

Apr. 21, 2022—Vanderbilt's Lucie Kalousová, PhD, and Corey Bolton, PsyD, have received research awards from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Leon Cai explains his poster to Sharon Kam (center) and Katherine Lee at the 2022 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Day.

Event highlights research on Alzheimer’s disease

Apr. 7, 2022—The third annual Vanderbilt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Day featured numerous presentations and concluded with a keynote address by Suzanne Craft, PhD, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Wake Forest University.

Javion Johnson, a patient at Children’s Hospital’s Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Clinic, holds a plaque designating the clinic as a Certified Care Center. Others on hand include from left, his father Ronnie Johnson, mother, Xavier Verge, brother, J’zarion Williams, Andrew Sokolow, MD, Bryan Burnette, MD, Jonathan Soslow, MD, Kali Barbalena and Haleigh Southern, RN.

Vanderbilt’s Duchenne Clinic first in Tennessee to be certified

Mar. 31, 2022—The Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Clinic at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has been recognized as a Certified Duchenne Care Center Program by the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, and is the only center in Tennessee to receive the distinction.

Vanderbilt Center for Tourette Syndrome and Other Tic Disorders team members include, from left, Angela White, RN, Mariana Ciobanu, MD, KellyAnn Primm, OTR/L, David Isaacs, MD, MPH, Heather Riordan, MD, Michelle Eckland, Jessica Stroh, RN, and Kayla Johnson, PharmD.

VUMC designated a Tourette syndrome center of excellence

Feb. 23, 2022—The Vanderbilt Center for Tourette Syndrome and Other Tic Disorders has been designated a Tourette Association of America (TAA) Center of Excellence.

Research by Dane Chetkovich, MD, PhD, right, Ye Han, PhD, and colleagues on how antidepressants work points to possible new targets for drug development.

Study provides new insight into how antidepressant drugs work

Dec. 1, 2021—A study by Vanderbilt researchers sheds light on how current antidepressant drugs work and suggests a new drug target in depression.

Doctors seeing increase in young females with tics, verbal outbursts similar to Tourette syndrome

Oct. 21, 2021—An international phenomenon of involuntary movements and vocalizations in adolescent girls is now believed to be a functional movement disorder, and while the causes are unclear, TikTok and other social medial platforms may be important contributors.

New Clinician Spotlight: Ryan Merrell

Oct. 20, 2021—Neuro-oncologist Ryan Merrell, MD, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as chief of the Division of Neuro-Oncology in the Department of Neurology.

Mental health screening in epilepsy

Oct. 18, 2021—Sending survey tools to epilepsy patients before their clinic appointment doubled the numbers of patients who were diagnosed and treated for depression and anxiety disorders, Vanderbilt neurologists found.