The three pounds of tissue that make up the human brain are home to our awareness, thoughts, memories, personality, emotions, and beliefs. Emory School of Medicine is committed to better understanding the brain and finding new ways to treat, predict, and prevent the devastating results of brain disorders, which affect more than 100 million Americans and are the leading cause of hospitalization and adult disability in the United States.
For the past 20 years Muhammad Ali has been fighting his greatest foe: Parkinson’s, a debilitating disease that freezes muscles, slows movement, and slurs speech. This time, the former heavyweight champion of the world is not alone in the ring.
Ali is among more than 5,000 patients treated each year at Emory, a leading research center for movement and neurological disorders. With studies and treatments ranging from deep brain stimulation to tai chi, Emory has the only academic movement disorders program in Atlanta actively conducting clinical trials. Many Emory discoveries have improved patients’ quality of life dramatically.
Scientists in Emory’s Comprehensive Neurosciences Center have new understanding and treatments for a host of other nervous system diseases and conditions, including stroke, epilepsy, and ALS. Emory scientists are testing a vaccine to slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. They have identified the gene that causes restless legs syndrome, discovered that progesterone can limit the damage caused by traumatic brain injury, and pioneered deep-brain stimulation to treat Parkinson’s, dystonia, and severe depression.
Join the fight to treat, stop, and even prevent the devastating results of brain disorders.
