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The Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Division serves to evaluate and treat patients with behavioral and cognitive symptoms that are a result of aging, neurodegeneration or neurological disease. These progressive changes in the way individuals think and behave are most often related to structural and functional changes in the brain that can be caused by Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, Lewy body disease and other neurological illnesses. As life expectancy is extended, a corresponding increase in these disorders means there is a growing need for academic physicians serving these populations in clinical care, education and research. Vanderbilt is a national leader of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology, with a particular emphasis on expert clinical care, cutting-edge research and education. Faculty members work interdepartmentally with specialists in a wide variety of disciplines, including neurology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, geriatric medicine, speech and language therapy, genetic counseling, neuroimaging and social work.
The Division houses numerous clinical centers of excellence, including the Frontotemporal Dementia Clinic, the CurePSP Center of Care, the Huntington’s Disease Clinic and Mission MSA Center, and the Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Clinic. Each of these clinics provide expert diagnosis, symptom management, education, coordinated care, support groups and other resources for patients and their families. Vanderbilt is also a leader in the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease, offering advance biomarker testing and consideration of new anti-amyloid infusion therapies.
Clinicians in this division lead and collaborate on clinical research (see details below). In addition to faculty experts and frequent clinical trials in such diverse conditions as frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Lewy body disease, Vanderbilt is also home to expertise in neuroimaging, an invaluable resource for physicians and their patients.
Research Highlights
The Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Division specializes in patient-oriented research, developing better outcome measures to detect and track behavioral and cognitive symptoms and assessing new therapies in neurodegenerative disorders using innovative cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging tools. Special emphasis is given to patient-based, individualized study, quantifying disease severity in each patient and discovering neurological markers for the burden of the disease. Many studies are executed in collaboration with other divisions and departments, both within Vanderbilt and as part of large national and international research consortia. Researchers in our division are internationally recognized for innovation, including the development of novel neuroimaging methods to improve understanding of brain-behavior relationships (e.g., lesion and atrophy network mapping), neuroimaging of the glymphatic system and neurofluid circulation, and the development of novel psychometric measures of social behavior and decision-making. Vanderbilt is at the forefront of experimental therapies to treat neurodegenerative disorders, including gene therapy and intrathecal drug administration.
Highlights of current areas of research include:
- Cognitive Neuroscience of criminal behavior, morality, delusions, belief, and impaired free will (Read more about the Darby lab)
- Development of functional and physiological neuroimaging biomarkers in neurodegenerative disorders (Read more about the Donahue lab)
- Risk and prevention, early detection, resilience, and clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease (Read more at Memory and Alzheimer’s Center)
- Cognition and movement disorders (Read more about the Claassen lab)
Education & Training
Trainees in the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Division work alongside some of the field’s leading clinicians and researchers, gaining invaluable technical knowledge as well as passion for discovery medicine. Residents and fellows learn at the intersection of compassionate clinical care and cutting-edge, life-changing research.
Vanderbilt offers a Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Fellowship each year.
Recent and Notable Publications