Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Faculty, Along With Medical Student Presenting At Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology

Doctors and medical students at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine presented their findings and research at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting in Denver, April 13-18, 2024.

Fortunato Battaglia, M.D., Ph.D., professor departments of neurology and medical sciences at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM) and Florian Thomas, MD, PhD, founding chair  and professor, department of neurology at HMSOM and  Hackensack University Medical Center, presented a poster at the conference. The poster focuses on exploring the relationship between temperament traits, psychological comorbidity, and functional disability assessed in people with multiple sclerosis. The group had developed a tool that included demographic characteristics, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), and the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) short form. Functional disability was assessed with the 36-item version WHODAS 2.0. Statistical analyses, including regression models, were used to explore the relationships between these variables. Their findings shed light on the interaction between personality characteristics and disability from MS. 

“Recognizing the importance of hyperthymic traits including being overly cheerful, energetic, and enthusiastic, stress, and age as factors influencing disability can aid in tailoring treatment and support strategies,” Dr. Thomas said. “Further research is warranted to delve into the underlying mechanisms and develop targeted interventions to address the unique needs of these patients.”

Krupa Pandey, M.D., director of research and the Center for Multiple Sclerosis and Related Conditions at Hackensack University Medical Center and associate professor of neurology at HMSOM was a co-author on a presentation that focused on the effectiveness and safety of utilizing a high efficacy, infusable B cell depleting therapy in Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino people with relapsing multiple sclerosis. Additionally, she presented a poster emphasizing the significance of early detection of vascular malformations in patients presenting with lesions resembling longitudinal extensive myelitis, as treatment paradigms and subsequent outcomes for both are different. 

HMSOM fourth-year medical student, Allison Brown together with Mohammed Kananeh, M.D., Hackensack University Medical Center neurointensivist and assistant professor of neurology & neurosurgery at HMSOM presented a poster entitled “Le coma dépassé,” detailing a patient with influenza-associated malignant cerebral edema and subsequent brain death.  Ms. Brown, an incoming Stanford University neurology resident, was honored with the AAN Roland P. Mackay medical student essay award. She recounts reviewing the patient’s imaging, observing a brain death exam, and speaks to the history of brain death. “If describing the irreversible loss of all functions of the brain could ever be considered clement, I’d prefer a diagnosis of le coma dépassé to ‘death by neurological criteria,’” Brown wrote. 

About Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute

Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute is dedicated to providing comprehensive care for patients with neurological disorders across the state of New Jersey and beyond. The Institute is comprised of a comprehensive team of neurologists and neurosurgeons at Hackensack University Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and JFK University Medical Center with a focus on conditions like brain and spine tumors, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and other movement disorders, stroke, epilepsy, ALS, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and neuromuscular diseases like multiple sclerosis. 

The Neuroscience Institute has earned national recognition from US News & World Report for Stroke Care, and Hackensack University Medical Center is ranked No. 22 in the nation for neurology and neurosurgery, the only neurology and neurosurgery program ranked in New Jersey. Each academic medical center has earned the Comprehensive Stroke Center designation from the Joint Commission, and the Institute includes Centers of Excellence in ALS, Memory Loss and Brain Health, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, and Cranial Surgery. The Institute has earned additional national recognitions for excellence from Healthgrades, the Joint Commission, and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. To learn more, visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org/Neurosciences