News and Announcements
Read the latest news from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease. The links below take you to articles where you can learn more about our members' latest achievements, awards and honors.
10.11.2021 WTTWAdults in their 80s and up who exhibit the cognitive function of an average middle-aged person are considered SuperAgers — a population that Emily Rogalski, PhD, has been studying for more than a decade.
10.06.2021 Northwestern NowThe Mesulam Center was awarded a $20 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to establish an international multi-center SuperAging consortium with locations across the United States and in Canada.
10.05.2021 Viewpoints RadioRobert Vassar, PhD, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Northwestern Mesulam Center discusses how scientists try to decode this complex disease.
09.22.2021 WGN RadioProfessor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern School of Medicine, Sandra Weintraub, PhD, discusses Alzheimer’s and what research has found on keeping mentally active.
09.10.2021The Mesulam Center recognizes the Glen and Wendy Miller Family for their significant contributions to support the Buddy Program by naming the program after the family.
- 09.08.2021 Northwestern Now
A biomarker in the brain predicts future cognitive decline in patients with the language form of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
08.31.2021ADUHELM was approved by the FDA based on the manufacturer’s claim that it slows progression of Alzheimer’s disease by removing amyloid from the brain. Scientists at Northwestern share their the latest information and guidance.
08.12.2021Eric Williams noticed he was having trouble with finding words as he was writing a novel. Read about Eric's diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia and how he got involved in research.
- 08.10.2021 The Smart Parenting Podcast
Emily Rogalski, PhD, shares insight on SuperAgers, who they are, how they're different, and what we can learn from them so we and our children can aim to live long, healthy lives.
07.22.2021Ken and Barbara Stevenson share their experience with the Communication Bridge study, a speech language therapy telehealth program.
- 07.19.2021 News Nation
Robert Vassar, PhD, discusses the FDA approval of Aduhelm, the results of the clinical trials, and what's next.
06.22.2021Casey Benzaken, a second-year dual degree MD/MPH student, is studying the attitudes towards flu vaccines of Northwestern University undergraduates.
- 06.10.2021
Now in its 24th year, the largest cohort in the Buddy Program’s history gathered online via Zoom. Read more about the students' experiences.
- 06.08.2021 WGN
The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first new drug treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in nearly 20 years has drawn mixed reactions from the medical field nationwide.
“Aducanumab, it is an antibody which recognizes amyloid, which is a substance that accumulates in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Marsel Mesulam, director of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease, Northwestern Medicine.
- 06.08.2021
Receiving an accurate dementia diagnosis can take time. Specialized quantitative brain imaging is becoming increasingly important for improving the process of obtaining an accurate dementia diagnosis.
- 06.07.2021
Earlier today the FDA approved aducanumab (trade name ADUHELM) for use in Alzheimer’s disease. This is a historic milestone
- 06.03.2021 Washington Post“We’ve all been under a lot of stress and anxiety for the past year,” said Borna Bonakdarpour, a behavioral neurologist and assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “That, by itself, affects our focus.”
- 05.14.2021
The Mesulam Center hosted the 27th Annual Alzheimer Day on May 6, 2021 and attracted over 500 to register for the event hosted online via Zoom.
- 05.14.2021
A collaborative study called SPIRIT allows individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia and their loved ones to take control and plan for future care.
- 05.12.2021 AllHealthGo
Ian Grant, MD, shares his expertise as a behavioral neurologist on the PBS Health Channel answering questions from community members about diet and how to prevent dementia.
04.14.2021Diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) in 2018, Gary Kratina and his wife, Robin, have found comfort in being involved in research at the Mesulam Center.
- 04.06.2021 NUCATSMargaret Flanagan, MD, assistant professor of Pathology in the Divisions of Experimental Pathology and Neuropathology and Neuropathology Core Leader of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease, has received the inaugural Mark Rogovin Pilot Research Award in Neuroscience from the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute.
- 04.05.2021
More than 350 participants attended the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease’s virtual PPA Conference, which featured keynote speakers and group support sessions focused on Primary Progressive Aphasia.
- 03.26.2021 The AtlanticNeurologists, including Borna Bonakdarpour, MD, have reported a rapid decline in their memory-loss patients due to pandemic isolation. Some patients have become agitated and violent. Others have advanced quickly through the progressive stages of Alzheimer’s.
- 03.23.2021 Navigating Neuropsychology PodcastDr. Emily Rogalski studies “SuperAging,” which describes older adults who are seemingly resistant to the deleterious changes in memory associated with typical or atypical aging.
- 03.19.2021 Today ShowAccording to Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour, a professor of neurology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, the feelings of brain fog can be caused by a wide range of factors, including isolation, anxiety, lack of sleep, a decreased level of exercise and more.
- 03.10.2021 News Medical Life Sciences
A new Northwestern Medicine study showed cognitive SuperAgers have resistance to the development of fibrous tangles in a brain region related to memory and which are known to be markers of Alzheimer's disease.
- 02.23.2021 WebMD
For years, amyloid plaques have gotten most of the attention as a potential target for Alzheimer's treatment, said researcher Tamar Gefen, who led the new study. But a body of evidence tells a different story: It's the buildup of tau -- not amyloid -- that correlates with a decline in memory and thinking skills, said Gefen, an assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago
- 01.13.2021 HealthDay
"While we knew that the memories of people with primary progressive aphasia were not affected at first, we did not know if they maintained their memory functioning over years," said study author Dr. M. Marsel Mesulam, director of the Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.