SUPPORT THE UC HEALTH
MEMORY CARE AND BRAIN HEALTH CENTER
“We really want to focus on brain health, and rather than treating once we have symptoms, let’s look at what we know can prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Changes are occurring in the brain even before we see clinical symptoms. Building a patient’s history of brain health, including sleep, exercise, experience, will help us better understand Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
RHONNA SHATZ, DO
Division Director for Behavioral Neurology
Bob and Sandy Heimann Endowed Chair in Research and Education in Alzheimer's Disease
Dear friend,
At the UC Health Memory Care and Brain Health Center, we are pioneering new approaches to neurodegenerative diseases by focusing on brain health at all stages of life. Research today shows that up to 60% of Alzheimer’s and dementia conditions can be prevented with attention to early childhood education and experience, lifestyle, sleep and vascular risk factors.
Our comprehensive care team has vast expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. We deliver personalized care that supports each patient’s unique biology.
Our center’s strengths:
• A comprehensive care team who understands the importance of definitive diagnosis using all available tools. This includes the collection of biomarkers in spinal fluid, assessments of sleep health and gait monitoring, as well as whole genome testing.
• Personalized medicine, including more frequent brain scans (MRIs) to determine if therapies are working in real time versus waiting months.
• Using the latest technology, including patient engagement and reporting through mobile apps, to assess a patient’s progress and recommend lifestyle interventions such as cognitive training and exercise regimens.
Our vision is to join the prestigious group of 33 designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers—institutions across the United States who share our goals to further Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias care and research.
As part of the region’s only academic medical center, the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute is uniquely positioned to change the course of these diseases.
We are so grateful for your thoughtful consideration to partner with our team in support of this important work that we are confident will improve lives here in Greater Cincinnati and around the world.
Rhonna Shatz, DO
Division Director for Behavioral Neurology
Bob and Sandy Heimann Endowed Chair in Research and Education in Alzheimer's Disease
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RESEARCH
Growing and retaining top talent
At the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, our faculty leaders bring an evidence-based focus to everything we do. To attract rising-star researchers and expand our quests for discovery, we must evolve our resources to maintain the fast pace required for continual health care innovation.
Endowed chairs for clinical leadership and research faculty
Historically, endowed chairs were a want-to-have, today it is a need-to-have in order for UC to be competitive with other nationally ranked academic medical centers. Chairs are essential to our ability to recruit and retain top talent among a competitive field of other neuroscience institutes.
Establishing new chairs builds permanency and sustainability in our areas of excellence:
• Clinical leadership advances the subspecialty care areas of Alzheimer's and other dementias. An endowed chair in clinical research provides the necessary collaboration between bench and bedside, taking the latest in research information and directly applying it to patient care.
• Neuroscience research chairs expand clinical trials and basic neuroscience research, to enable the discovery of new medications and treatments, and protect time for physician-scientists to balance patient care with research and teaching. An endowed research chair allows us to recruit new thought leaders or retain vital faculty and ensures continuity of important research efforts at the university.
Paired with our advanced facilities and research operations, endowed chairs will attract nationally and globally recognized faculty to the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute. This accelerates the research and development of new treatments, all to directly benefit more patients.
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Research focused on precision medicine and lifelong brain health
Historically, patients have not had access to a comprehensive clinical diagnosis for Alzheimer’s or related dementias. Our center is unique—using a framework of cognitive assessments (like sleep and gait monitoring) in combination with the collection of biomarkers. This full picture gives patients and their families confidence to develop an individualized care plan.
Established research shows that more than 40 to 60% of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia conditions can be prevented with attention to lifestyle, sleep and vascular risk factors beginning as early as childhood.
Our memory care team is partnering with primary care providers to standardize tracking data points in electronic medical records such as blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep and exercise. Using this data, our team can intervene when a patient displays a deviation in cognition. With early intervention and a preventative approach, we can make lifelong brain health a reality. A significant multi-year investment to expand our research tools and recruit new faculty will drive personalized medicine in collaboration with our patients.
This growth and expansion of our research and care approaches to Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders would position us for designation as an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). The investment and resulting recognition and impact from an ADRC are similar to achieving National Cancer Institute designation—a best-in-class status—and are a key metric in rankings.
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) designates 33 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRC) across the United States. To reach this level of designation and award takes a significant multi-year investment to recruit research faculty and build a robust portfolio of basic and clinical research, often in collaboration with neurology and psychiatry.
Researchers at these centers work to translate their studies into improved diagnosis and care for people with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as in the treatment and prevention of other types of dementia. Awards to certified NIA centers can be up to $2 million per year in government funding to support research and clinical activities.
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What is clinical research?
It is the study of medicines, devices, products or treatments to determine safety and effectiveness for potential human use. Clinical research may be used for prevention, diagnosis and treatment, or for relieving symptoms of a disease.
Benefits of clinical trials
For patients
• Access to a novel treatment that isn’t yet available and could improve the patient’s quality of life.
• Regular and attentive care while contributing to research that may save lives in the future.
For physicians and scientists
• Driving exciting advances in patient care, discovering new treatments.
• Improving the standard of care and patient quality of life.
Frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is among the most difficult conditions to diagnose because the symptoms can overlap with other illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder or Parkinson’s disease. Though rare, it is an aggressive form of dementia most common in people under 65.
As a Frontotemporal dementia Center of Excellence we have research studies underway to improve our understanding of FTD. Russell Sawyer, MD, is working in collaboration with other universities to look at how environmental exposures may affect the development of FTD.
In another study, UC researchers are hoping to identify specific RNA or expressions in the neurons in samples from animal models as well as patients with Alzheimer’s and FTD. Both of these promising studies were made possible due to philanthropic support of pilot research. Additional funding will help advance our understanding of this rare form of dementia that currently has no FDA-approved treatments.
Music and memory
We know that music is something which can inspire awe, and at a chemical level causes new brain cells to form and new connections between pre-existing brain cells. Music therapy has shown clinical benefits in patients with Alzheimer's and in reducing caregiver burden, but we still have much to learn about how music induces these biochemical changes. This project will focus on developing our music therapy program to reduce anxiety, depression or agitation in people with Alzheimer's disease, as well as understand the neurologic changes that occur as a result of music therapy.
Cincinnati Brain Health Study
One of the most confounding aspects of understanding memory and cognition diseases is not knowing precisely when these diseases begin in a person. Modeled off a longitudinal study in France, the proposed Cincinnati Brain Health Study will enroll young adult participants with a particular focus on minority (Hispanic and Black) populations from the region.
Led by Hyacinth Hyacinth, PhD, the Dorothy Wood Whitaker and D. Elizabeth Price Chair for Brain Health, this study will include a comprehensive questionnaire, brain imaging and additional biometric data, tracking patients every five years until age 45. Goals include identifying genetic risk factors, triggers and indicators for dementia. A study of this kind with large datasets could be useful across UC and UC Health as well as valuable for other partner medical centers and clinical trials networks.
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CLINICAL CARE
Grow our patient data infrastructure, strengthen services for our centers of excellence, creating a national destination for care
The power of Big Data: Improving patient outcomes
To offer truly world-class care for our patients, we need to rely on not just the expertise of one doctor, but leverage the expertise of every single doctor in our institute and beyond. We must continue to scale our approaches to personalized treatment for our patients, understanding that care is unique to each individual.
With the vast amount of health data now available, a physician has millions of data points at their fingertips. The flow of new information never stops as biomedical knowledge from new research doubles every 73 days. However, the time lag from putting new knowledge into practice currently takes more than a decade.
The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute is building an integrated network of research, clinical data and quality improvement processes that will rapidly deliver new learnings to the bedside, vastly improving patient care and quality and longevity of life.
This network will connect all of our centers of excellence, and eventually connect us to peer neuroscience institutes like the top-ranked Weill Institute at UC San Francisco. These connectors multiply the expertise of our institute, identifying new approaches and treatments that will improve patient outcomes not only in our region, but worldwide.
Adopting a Big Data approach to care
Before
• Average 17 years from evidence to practice.
• Lacks patient input and learned experience.
• Disparities in practice, decision-making.
• Measures process with outcomes.
After
• Less than 3 years to apply new evidence to patient care.
• Patient-driven research and resources.
• Aligned use of best practices, efficient and accessible evidence.
• Real-time patient outcomes that matter.
Leveraging Big Data
This approach to care will measure real-world outcomes from our patients and make immediate and continuous improvements to the system as a result. Our leaders have already demonstrated how an integrated, data-driven approach can optimize patient outcomes for brain and mental health care.
For example, UC’s epilepsy team has focused on controlling seizures and reducing patient barriers to medication. By partnering with patients to identify common issues, 30% of epilepsy patients were found to have at least one barrier to medication—including access or cost, forgetting to take the medication, or not taking it due to side effects.
With patients contributing data in between visits, through wearable apps, surveys and/ or seizure diaries, it drives both quality improvement and research. The care teams can view all of this in a digital dashboard to look for patterns and make immediate adjustments to a patient’s treatment plan.
“Getting to the truth of a patient’s problem and how best to cure it, requires data scientists, analysts and biostatisticians—people and tools that aren’t normally part of the healthcare model. And I think this is where philanthropy and the generosity of our community and patients can make a big impact.”
JOSEPH CHENG, MD
Associate Director for UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute
Frank H. Mayfield Endowed Chair & Professor of Neurosurgery
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Enhanced clinical services
Expanding talented, highly trained staff is crucial to provide the most comprehensive care to our patients and their caregivers. In addition to our physician leaders, these key roles include:
• Nurse navigators who provide an essential core of clinical expertise for our center.
• Social workers who provide critical care and guidance to community and other resources for our patients, particularly those managing complex conditions.
As our patient outcomes continue to excel, new technology and comprehensive services in support of the whole person will evolve across the institute.
Our current priorities include:
• Software to improve the patient journey, upgrading our ability to seamlessly communicate with patients.
• Brain health longevity program to offer in-depth neurological assessments for signature world-class preventative care.
• Integrative medicine and survivorship clinics offered by the Osher Center for Integrative Health at UC, providing complementary therapies like wellness classes for nutrition, mindfulness and exercise.
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EDUCATION
Building excellence in care, training, specialized staffing
In the hospital setting, talented nurses, resident physicians and support staff often spend more time with patients and families than the attending physicians. These expert care teams provide compassionate, research-driven care to the bedside—and are a key component to becoming the neuroscience institute by which all others are measured.
Nursing endowment and expansion of programs
The demand for neuroscience nurses is high, due in part to an aging patient population and a growing rate of neurologic conditions, paired with a national nursing shortage. This high demand is also due to the extensive and ongoing requirements for continual, progressive education and skills training that nurses need to provide care in the neurological specialty and stay abreast of evolving advances and technologies.
An endowment fund will build opportunities for nurses to train, advance and contribute to the science of neurological care, further positioning our institute as a national leader in treating complex neurological problems.
Investments in nursing education within UC and area schools will grow the pipeline of passionate, skilled nurses, as well as help talent retention. Additional investments will enhance our ability to support nurses with patient mobility and ambulation, technology improvements and continuing education.
Fellowship positions
One-year post-graduate training programs provide the opportunity to advance in a subspecialty area of neurological care. Fellowship positions will include MDs but also extend to opportunities for physician assistants and nurse practitioners who wish to pursue specialized training. Fellows will work in outpatient, inpatient and ICU settings across all subspecialty areas of clinical neurology and neurosurgery.
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Education and training programs
The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute is a magnet of talent, attracting out-of-state high school graduates and potential graduate students to Ohio with the promise of a world-class education, mentors in research and industry, and access to leading laboratory and clinical facilities. We plan expansion and support of the following areas:
• Simulation lab space and training support
Several of the top programs in the country use simulation-based training: realistic clinical environments that blend learning with virtual and hands-on experiences through a model of team-based patient care. At UC, leadership from across the academic health center and UC Health have articulated a high-level vision and operational model for a simulation center that will teach not only basic procedures but also complex neurological care skills.
• Diversity programming and recruitment efforts
The UC College of Medicine is committed to building a more diverse physician workforce that accurately reflects the patient community we treat. Our mission is to recruit and retain talented students, residents and faculty from all ethnic, racial and gender groups into our outstanding medical center and support them in pursuing neuroscience specialties.
• Continuing medical education
Training programs will provide continuing medical education in our areas of excellence. New programming will offer primary care physicians opportunities to enhance learning in often requested specialties like headache management.
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FACILITIES
As our institute grows, so does the need for additional spaces to provide patient care and expand clinical research
Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (Neuro-ICU)
At the UC Medical Center, the Neuro-ICU is where thousands of lives are saved each year with our advanced teams providing round-the-clock care.
Thanks to an investment from the James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Foundation, UC Health is renovating this space with an improved focus on patient and family care. With this, we are seeking $2.75 million in matching gifts to transform our Neuro-ICU into a modern, healing environment for patients and families that reflects the unsurpassed level of neurological care we provide.
Highlights of the renovation include:
• Upgrading 22 patient rooms that provide round-the-clock care for critically ill neurological and neurosurgical patients.
• Installing a circadian lighting system to promote natural sleep patterns and stave off depression, resulting in better patient outcomes up to a year after their stay.
• Designing nurse workstations with a direct line of sight into patient rooms.
• Transforming the lobby and waiting areas, including a patient education area and two new conference rooms for family consultations.
• Creating comfortable accommodations with showering/ changing facilities so that families can stay close to their loved ones.
We are positioned to lead the charge in defining a new standard of excellence in neurological intensive care.
Looking ahead, proposed areas for expansion of our footprint include:
West Chester Hospital: Dedicated neuro unit
The neurological and neurosurgical specialties have a unique opportunity to customize and expand space at West Chester Hospital to accommodate growing demand from our region’s northern communities. Currently, our neurologists and neurosurgeons can see and treat patients, but are limited in the specialized space for more acutely ill patients who require intensive care.
West Chester Hospital is in the planning stages for an additional new neurology wing with the expansion options for a floor of up to 36 new inpatient beds. There is an option to build out 20 dedicated neuro beds and shell 16 more beds for future phases of expansion.
Clifton outpatient building expansion
When first conceived, the four-story UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute outpatient building (UC Health Clifton Campus) was designed to support up to eight floors, to allow for anticipated expansion. These floors would accommodate our growth of patient volumes, as well as our clinical research operations and expand opportunities for community partnerships with our researchers
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