Nicole Atwood
Advance Practice Nurse
The Neuroscience Institute is the only state-approved, academically-based facility of its kind in central and southern Illinois.
Neuroscience Institute
The Neuroscience Institute consolidates SIU’s Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry into a single-site outpatient clinical care center staffed by more than 50 neuroscience providers. The institute cares for patients with a range of disorders including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, spine disease, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.
PATIENT CARE
A synergistic approach to patient care
By combining the breadth of experience from those within the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, patients receive comprehensive and coordinated care. Experts work closely together to provide patients with greater accessibility and faster appointment times, often on the same day.
Our specialties include:
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Acharya named Neurology chair and co-director of SIU Neuroscience Institute
“It is an honor and privilege to guide the neurology and neuroscience teams at SIU,” said Jayant Acharya, MD, DM. “I plan to harness the intelligence, creativity and commitment of our faculty, staff and trainees using a collaborative, relationship-centered leadership approach to help SIU medicine meet its vision of improving health for everyone in our community and beyond.”
RESEARCH
Glowing results
Neurosurgery experts at the Neuroscience Institute sought a better way to delineate between healthy brain tissue and brain tumors. As part of that quest, SIU Medicine participated in a groundbreaking study to determine the safety and benefit of using 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) during surgery.
When doctors remove a tumor from the brain, it is important that they remove as much of the tumor as possible and not remove parts of the healthy brain tissue. Sometimes this can be difficult because the tumor can look like healthy brain tissue. In some brain tumors, 5-ALA can make the tumors glow red under deep blue light (a "black light"). 5-ALA is a naturally occurring substance that is found in all living things, including humans, and is a necessary part of basic life functions.
EDUCATION
Seeking answers to stroke, Alzheimer's disease
Medical students have many opportunities to dive deeper into basic and clinical research throughout their four years at SIU School of Medicine. The Mentored Professional Enrichment Experience provides students with the chance to work with physicians and researchers at SIU or other medical campuses. Students can take the eight-week elective between their first and second years of medical school.
“As students learn medicine, it’s important that they also understand the value of research as part of the health care field,” said MPEE Program Coordinator Eric Niederhoffer, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in Carbondale.
PATIENT CARE
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Physiatry is a clinical specialty that focuses on optimizing the function and quality of life in people with a wide range of physical impairments, disabilities and conditions. It’s also known as physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R).
Physiatrists diagnose and treat medical conditions caused by injury, illness, or disease affecting the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, nerves) and musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons). Conditions commonly evaluated by physiatrists include:
- Chronic back pain, neck pain, and joint pain
- Osteoarthritis
- Post-operative or post-traumatic pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Burns
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Cerebral palsy and other types of birth defects
- Strokes
- Spinal cord injuries including paraplegia and quadriplegia
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Multiple sclerosis
- ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
- Amputations and limb loss
- Post-polio syndrome
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Latest news
SIU Medicine physicians perform first transorbital skull base surgery in central Illinois
Dr. Dana Crosby, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and neurosurgeon Dr. Devin Amin recently completed the first transorbital skull base surgery in central Illinois.
Acharya named Neurology chair and co-director of SIU Neuroscience Institute
Dr. Jayant Acharya has been named the chair of the Department of Neurology and co-executive director of the Neuroscience Institute at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
SIU Medicine enrolling patients for clinical study to treat depression
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, October 18, 2021 – Clinical depression affects more than 17 million people in the United States. Among those afflicted, 1 out of 3 has what is called treatment-resistant
Hascup named director of Alzheimer's center
Erin Hascup, PhD , has been named as the new director of the SIU Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (CADRD) beginning January 1, 2020. Tom Ala, MD, was serving as the interim
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