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First Neurology quarterly newsletter for 2023. Look out for our next one in April 2023!

 

In The News

 

Dr. Irena Dujmovic Basuroski was featured in “The Well” https://thewell.unc.edu/2022/12/02/multiple-sclerosis-an-experts-take/.

 

Events

Neurology Department Holiday Party

The department, friends, and family gathered together to celebrate the end of 2022 at the Carolina Inn!


The Critical Care Advanced Practice Provider Support Program (CCAPPS) started this past fall at UNC. It is aimed at providing education and support for new and experienced APPs within the ICU’s. The Neuroscience ICU APP group is heavily involved in this program. Wesley Parker, Miriam Stokes, and Dana Raines function as SIM lab facilitators. Jessica Werdel is coordinating the monthly APP journal club.

 


Adult Neuro ICU MD/APP team

After many years of COVID-induced hiatus, the adult Neuro ICU MD/APP team was able to get together as a group for some post-holiday bonding time this past month!


 

Neurology Faculty Retreat

On January 27, 2023 Neurology faculty gathered together at the NC Botanical Garden for an all day faculty retreat. This year’s retreat focused on Cohesion, Inclusivity, and DEI training. Faculty members branched out of their divisions, meeting new members and connecting face-to-face for the first retreat since the start of the pandemic.


Upcoming Events

2023 NC Neurological Society Annual Meeting (NCNS)

February 10 -12, 2023 at the Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, NC

Many great talks planned including several from UNC faculty, fellows, and residents! There will also be subspeciality breakout sessions on Sunday morning.

This year’s NC Neurological Society meeting is in Pinehurst, NC. Like with prior NCNS meetings, Saturday has a litany of great update talks on spine neuroradiology, normal pressure hydrocephalus from Dr. Abhay Moghekar at Johns Hopkins, diversity in clinical trials from Dr. Roy Hamilton at UPenn, pediatric movement disorders, rare headache syndromes, brain tumor updates, the role of APPs in transitional stroke care, and the resident year-in-review talks from residents at Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest. New this year is a SUBSPECIALTY SUNDAY where 4 subspecialty-specific breakouts will run concurrently. The goal is to present and discuss more niche topics and provide a forum for dialoguing with subspecialists from across the state. I strongly encourage you to attend and let other neurologists, APPs, and trainees know about this new offering. The breakouts include:

  1. MS Breakout on the landscape of DMTs, women’s health issues and approach to biomarkers led by Dr. Donna Graves
  2. Epilepsy Breakout on advances in neurostimulation, rapid EEG technology, and cost/quality considerations with EEG monitoring led by Drs. Suzette LaRoche and Andy Evans
  3. Neuromuscular Breakout on all things genetics in neuromuscular medicine today led by Dr. Mike Cartwright
  4. Stroke Breakout on surgical updates, CRAO and stroke in women led by Dr. Brian Mac Grory

There is a virtual option for those not able to join at Pinehurst.

Link to register: https://cvent.me/mXkVMr.

 

Walk for MS

March 25, 2023 in Raleigh, NC

Join the UNC Neuro Heels Team!

 

Triangle Walk to De-Feet Dementia

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Join the BlueHeels Walkers and support the work of the Dementia Alliance of NC!

 

Annual American Academy of Neurology Conference

April 22 – 27, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts

Honors/Awards

Award-Recognition Ribbon

 

Drs. Liu, Wabulya, and LaRoche were recognized as Fellows of the American Epilepsy Society


Dr. Irena Dujmovic Basuroski became a Steering Committee Member of The European Consortium for Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarker Research in Multiple Sclerosis, February 2022.


Monica Diaz, MD, MS, was elected as a member of the Global Engagement Committee of the American Neurological Association, November 2022-November 2025


Emily Fink, MD, who recently graduated from UNC School of Medicine in 2022, was selected as a recipient of the Star Research Achievement Award by the Society of Critical Care Medicine for her abstract “Implementation of 2HELPS2B Seizure Risk Score: A High-Value Approach to Seizure Detection in the ICU.” Co-authors include Fazila Aseem, Suzette LaRoche, Parin Nanavati, Casey Olm-Shipman, Clio Rubinos, Angela Wabuyla, and Jessica Werdel. Emily conducted the project as a scholar in the 2022 UNC Clinician Leader in Quality and Safety Program and was mentored by Casey Olm-Shipman. The Star Research Award is intended to recognize excellence in critical care research and high-quality original investigative research. Accompanying the award was the opportunity to present her research findings at the SCCM Critical Care Congress held in January. Her abstract was selected as one of the top 64 scoring abstracts from over 1,500 submitted abstracts.


Casey Olm-Shipman, MD, MS, was appointed co-Chair of the Quality Improvement Section of the Neurocritical Care Society.


The International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) has awarded UNC Rett Syndrome Center-of-Excellence designation. Co-directed by Drs. Yael Shiloh-Malawsky and Diana Cejas, the center will provide specialized care for individuals living with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects 1 in every 10,000 births. The center will be joining the IRSF Centers-of-Excellence Network, which includes 18 centers committed to providing the Rett Syndrome community access to best-in-class clinical care and supporting Rett syndrome research. Read more…

 

Awarded Grants

 

Monica Diaz, MD, MS is a co-PI on a new grant funded by the Alzheimer’s Association titled “Assessing Dementia and Frailty among Older Persons in rural Eastern Uganda” in collaboration with Makerere University in Uganda and Johns Hopkins. The study seeks to determine the prevalence of dementia and frailty among older Ugandans.


Matt Sharrock, MD, received both UNC School of Medicine Research Infrastructure Equipment Allocation funding and Department of Neurology Clinical Trials Residuals Pilot funding for a proposal to enable the NSICU to record and export continuous intracranial pressure waveform data for severe acute brain injury patients.

 

Publications

 

The faculty and residents at UNC Neurology are dedicated to producing high-quality publications that can help to shape our understanding of neurological diseases. With their innovative research, they have made meaningful contributions to the field of neurology in 2022-2023.

View the 2022 publications >

View the 2023 publications >

Presentations

 

UNC Neurology faculty and residents gave an impressive number of presentations both nationally and internationally this year including many poster and paper presentations.

View the 2022 presentations >

View the 2023 presentations >