“One of the primary missions of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) is to improve the health of the elderly in Kentucky and beyond through the provision of educational opportunities for health care professionals. The UK-ADC and the SBCoA have partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association, KY Telecare, and Area Health Education Center in the development of this educational program designed to support healthcare providers caring for those with memory loss or dementia throughout Kentucky and our neighboring areas in the Southeastern United States. The program and the accompanying Continuing Education credits are absolutely free of charge as a service to you, as a testament to our commitment to improving the care of the millions of Americans living with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. We hope you enjoy the program and that it contributes to the care you provide to your patients.”

Linda J. Van Eldik, PhD
Director, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging

“Caring for those who have Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders can be challenging for even the most adept health care provider. We have designed this program to help you better care for your patients with these conditions. The program introduces concepts and care strategies that can be utilized by the most proficient specialist or the newly hired staff person assisting with the care of your patients. We break down and explain the state-of-the-art science and medical expertise in the field of dementia to help you create easy tools that can be used to improve your care for your patients living with dementia irrespective of your medical background and training.”

Gregory A. Jicha, MD, PhD
Neurology, UK Healthcare, and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging

Neelum Aggarwal, MD

Biography

Dr. Aggarwal earned an MD from the Rosalind Franklin University Chicago Medical School. She completed a neurology residency at Henry Ford Hospital and fellowship at Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush Institute for Healthy Aging-Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders. She is a population health neurologist and clinical researcher in the field of longevity and aging. She is Co-Leader of the federally funded (NIA) Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center Clinical Core in Chicago and an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Aggarwal has been the senior population-based neurologist on all of the community based cohort studies conducted at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and Rush Institute on Aging since 1996, having performed over 2,500 in home neurological evaluations throughout Chicago’s racial and ethnic minority communities. She has extensive experience in aging research, both as a clinician and a researcher and is the Steering Committee Member of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) group and Principal Investigator on multiple Alzheimer’s Disease clinical trials. She is the Co-Principal Investigator for the federally funded PCORI grant, Community Engagement for Early Recognition and Immediate Action in Stroke (CEERIAS) study, that is a multi-institutional and academic-community partnered program meant to address disparities in stroke awareness, barriers to health care access, and treatments and outcomes in Chicago’s minority communities. She has authored over 40 manuscripts, presented at national and international conferences on topics of aging and dementia and is frequent blogger for the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Group. In addition to her role as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) – the nation’s oldest women medical association, Dr. Aggarwal continues to serve on multiple boards and community based initiatives in Chicago, that include Chair/Co-Chair for the Primary Stroke Center Mini-Internship Program, the AHA-Chicago Regional Stroke Advisory (CRSA) Committee-Community Disparities, Outreach, and Education Working Group, and the Westside Institute for Science and Education (WISE)-Jesse Brown VA-Board Leadership Mentoring Program.

Affiliation

• Associate Professor
  Rush University Medical Center
  Chicago, Illinois

Renee Chase, MDiv

Biography

Renee earned her Master of Divinity from Lexington Theological seminary, BBA in Management from Texas A & M, and earned a Secondary Education certificate in Literature from the University of North Texas. At the Alzheimer's Association, she provides education and one-on-one support to families and individuals dealing with dementia. She also works with educational teams to deliver quality training to professional caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease, collaboratively designs new curriculum on Alzheimer’s disease, and works with other Association employees and volunteers to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease in the community.

Affiliation

• Community Outreach Coordinator
  Alzheimer's Association of Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana
  Lexington, Kentucky

Salli Gallaher-Whisman, MD

Biography

Dr. Whisman is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, and completed her Family Practice residency training at the MAHEC Family Practice Residency Training Program in Asheville, North Carolina. She is board certified in both Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She joined a private Family Practice in the fall of 1998 and became an associate Medical Director for Mountain Area Hospice in Asheville. In 2002, she became Medical Director for Mountain Area Hospice and Palliative Care. She joined Hospice of the Bluegrass in August of 2005 as Associate Medical Director. Currently, Dr. Whisman is the Senior Hospice Medical Director for HOB and faculty with the University of Kentucky/Hospice of the Bluegrass Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. Her time is spent in clinical, educational, advocacy, and administrative duties as well as clinical oversight of the care received by approximately 900 hospice patients in their homes, nursing homes, and inpatient settings across central and southeastern Kentucky.

Affiliation

• Senior Medical Director
  Hospice of the Bluegrass
  Lexington, Kentucky

James Galvin, MD, MPH, FANA

Biography

Dr. Galvin earned an MD from the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. He completed an internship at the Hackensack University Hospital, residencies at Thomas Jefferson University and MCP Hahnemann, and a clinical fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Galvin has expertise in characterizing, diagnosing and managing patients who have problems with memory, thinking, executive function, attention, language, emotion, mood or behavior due to neurodegenerative disease. At the Barlow Center, Dr. Galvin's practice will focus on providing state of the art diagnostic evaluations, treatment and rehabilitation for all forms of dementia and cognitive impairment. Approaches include not only medical treatments but psychosocial interventions, counseling, nutrition, diet and exercise. Dr Galvin has been recognized for his research efforts and excellence in Geriatric Neurology and Psychiatry by the American Academy of Neurology. He has published more than 80 scientific papers covering basic, clinical and translational science in the area of neurodegenerative disorders, dementia and cognitive aging; is the editor of two textbooks on dementia; and serves on the editorial board for three journals. His research interests include characterizing Lewy body diseases and early detection of cognitive impairment.

Affiliation

• Professor, Neurology, Psychiatry and Population Health
  Director, Clinical Operations, Comprehensive Center on Brain Aging
  Director, Pearl Barlow Center for Memory Evaluation and Treatment
  Associate Director, Alzheimer Disease Center
  The Center for Cognitive Neurology
  New York, New York

Gregory Jicha, MD, PhD

Biography

Dr. Jicha is a Professor in the Department of Neurology and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Jicha serves on the Executive Committee and is the Director of the Clinical Core of the UK, and the NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center. He also directs the Telemedicine Cognitive Clinic at UK, designed to reach out to rural populations across Kentucky for both clinical and research-related activities in the area of AD and related disorders. Dr. Jicha holds the Robert T. and Nyles Y. McCowan Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Research at UK. His current research interests lie in the areas of mild cognitive impairment, clinicopathological correlations in early preclinical disease states, and clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies for AD. He is the principle investigator at UK for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Group and also serves on the Clinical Task Force and Steering Committee for the National Institute of Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Center Program. For more information about this speaker and other UK Department of Neurology faculty, visit: http://neurology.med.uky.edu/neurology-our-faculty.

Affiliation

• Professor of Neurology
  Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
  Sanders-Brown Center on Aging
  University of Kentucky
  College of Medicine
  Lexington, Kentucky

Richard Murphy, MD

Biography

Dr. R. Ronan Murphy joined the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute team as a general neurologist. Dr. Murphy earned his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. After receiving his degree, he completed my residency at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Additionally, Dr. Murphy also completed a fellowship with specialized training in advanced mental illness research and treatment at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle. Clinical interests include Behavioral Neurology, Dementia, Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke, and Telemedicine. Dr. Murphy is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in neurology and vascular neurology and also certified in geriatric neurology, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. For more information about this speaker and other UK Department of Neurology faculty, visit: http://neurology.med.uky.edu/neurology-our-faculty.

Affiliation

• Assistant Professor, Neurology
  University of Kentucky College of Medicine
  Lexington, Kentucky

Marwan Sabbagh, MD

Biography

Dr. Sabbagh earned an undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley and an MD from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He received residency training in neurology at Baylor College of medicine and a completed a fellowship in geriatric neurology and dementia at the UCSD School of Medicine. Dr. Sabbagh board-certified neurologist and geriatric neurologist, hopes to work himself out of a job. Considered one of the leading experts in Alzheimer's disease and dementia, he serves as director of the Banner Sun Health Research Institute. Dr. Sabbagh has dedicated his entire career to finding a cure for Alzheimer's and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Sabbagh is a leading investigator for many prominent national Alzheimer's prevention and treatment trials, including Alzheimer immunotherapy studies. He is senior editor for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Clinical Neurology News. Dr. Sabbagh is author of, The Alzheimer's Answer, with a forward written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. His latest book The Alzheimer's Prevention Cookbook: 100 Recipes to Better Brain Health is now available. Dr. Sabbagh also served as editor for the book Palliative Care for Advanced Alzheimer's and Dementia: Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Based Care and has edited the soon-to-be-released Handbook of Geriatric Neurology. He is the author of more than 200 medical and scientific publications in Alzheimer's disease research. Dr. Sabbagh is the director of Clinical Research at BSHRI and Senior Scientist for the Haldeman Laboratory for Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics. In addition to his clinical work and private practice in Sun City, Ariz., Dr. Sabbagh is associate director of the Arizona Alzheimer's Disease Core Center, a clinical instructor in the Banner/St. Joseph's Geriatric Fellowship Program and a research professor of neurology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix.

Affiliation

• Director, Banner Sun Health Research Institute
  Professor, Neurology
  University of Arizona
  Associate Director, Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Center
  Sun City, Arizona

Frederick Schmitt, PhD

Biography

Dr. Schmitt has 30+ years’ experience in dementia and clinical trials. He has published over 500 peer reviewed papers; serves as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health; and, has been instrumental in various research studies such as brain-behavior associations in neurological diseases with a focus on early detection of dementia, outcomes of therapeutic interventions in Alzheimer’s disease, and aging of frontal structure and function in Down syndrome and dementia. He received his PhD in Life Span Psychology from University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, and completed postdoctoral training in Neuropsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center.

Affiliation

• Professor, Neurology
  University of Kentucky College of Medicine
  Director, Neuropsychology Service
  UK Chandler Hospital
  Faculty Associate
  UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging
  Lexington, Kentucky

Marie Smart, SW, BA

Biography

Marie Smart is a graduate of King College in Bristol, Tennessee. She is a member of the Quality Assurance Review Team for The Breckinridge and the Christian Care Communities Board. Ms. Smart assists with clinical assessments on the Senior Volunteers in the Health Aging Cohort Program. She provides education, training, and support to professional and family caregivers. Maris has worked in Kentucky as a health and family care professional since 1972 and has specialized in care of the frail elderly since 1982. She has concentrated on care of families living with dementia since 1988. Ms. Smart has extensive experience in the clinical assessment of persons with AD and related disorders, in family assessment, care planning, and support, and in training of both professional and family caregivers on topics related to AD and caregiving approaches.

Affiliation

• Social Worker/Family Care Support Specialist
  UK Alzheimer's Disease Center
  Sanders-Brown Center on Aging
  Lexington, Kentucky