Newswise — (Edison, NJ - April 6, 2023) Hackensack Meridian Health’s three nationally-recognized neuroscience institutes at Hackensack University Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center and JFK University Medical Center are now united as Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute — the largest, most comprehensive Neuroscience Institute in the state. By coming together as one institute with a shared vision and mission, the three locations have strengthened their ability to provide integrated access to care and research for patients throughout New Jersey.
Under the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute umbrella, neurology and neurosurgery team members are able to leverage the network resources to provide their patients with enhanced access to evidence-based care protocols, clinical trials, technology, and subspecialty expertise — closer to home, and without the need to refer patients outside HMH.
One in three people will develop a neurological disorder at some point. Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability and among the leading causes of death in the United States. That is why where and who a patient seeks treatment for conditions like brain and spine tumors, Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, stroke, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia and neuromuscular diseases like multiple sclerosis, is important.
“The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute offers the highest standard of care for patients with neurological illnesses, allowing us to bring together neurologists, neurosurgeons and other neurology specialists including neuropsychologists, case managers, neurointensivists, researchers and neuro-oncologists so that every facet of a neurological illness is attended to,” said Timothy Hogan, FACHE, executive vice president of Hackensack Meridian Health Care Transformation Services. “The Institute allows for even greater connectivity and collaboration, to allow patients access to the highest quality care in all the regions we serve throughout New Jersey.”
Hackensack Meridian Health has the largest neurology and neurosurgery program in New Jersey and is home to the state’s only nationally ranked neurology and neurosurgery program at Hackensack University Medical Center. The Neuroscience Institute’s accolades include the following:
- Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) in Hackensack, NJ is ranked among the nation’s best hospitals for neurology and neurosurgery by US News and World Report (#42).
- JFK University Medical Center (JFKUMC) in Edison, NJ has been awarded the 2023 Healthgrades Neuroscience Excellence and America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Stroke Care.
- Jersey Shore University Medical Center (JSUMC) in Neptune, NJ was awarded the 2023 Healthgrades Neuroscience Excellence and Cranial Neurosurgery Excellence awards for three consecutive years and has been named America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Stroke Care three years in a row.
- All three academic medical centers received Get With The Guidelines Stroke Excellence awards from the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association.
Patients will also have access to nationally ranked neurological rehabilitation services at the JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, ranked by US News & World Report as one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the country.
The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute allows patients access to state-of-the-art care and advanced therapies through new research and clinical trials, including trials in neurological conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), spinal cord injury, brain tumors and migraines.
Collaboration throughout Hackensack Meridian Health’s vast healthcare network allows other underlying medical causes for neurological disorders to be addressed. For example, Hackensack University Medical Center has established a Heart and Brain Clinic to evaluate and treat people with patent foramen ovale (PFO) — a small hole in the heart — who have had a stroke not due to other causes and who are at risk of a second stroke. The clinic is a collaboration between the medical center’s renowned cardiology and neurology experts in one multidisciplinary program and is the first-of-its-kind in New Jersey. At the Neuroscience Institute’s Center for Memory Loss and Brain Health, patients have access to cognitive neurologists, geriatricians, health & neuro-psychologists and social workers for comprehensive care to all parts of memory loss diseases.
Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute Offers Advanced Technology
The Neuroscience Institute offers premiere technology for treatment of neurological disease and disorders that cannot be found at most other institutions. The Neuroscience Institute is now equipped with Quicktome brain mapping technology, an innovation in imaging to map brain networks and electrical connections to preserve them during surgery, allowing surgeons to plot out a surgery that would limit the amount of brain tissue impacted. The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute sites are the first locations in New Jersey and only a few in the Northeast with this technology.
The Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center is home to New Jersey’s first intraoperative MRI system, used during neurosurgical and neuro-interventional procedures to help neurosurgeons accurately remove tumors and treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and more. Similar technology, including Clear Point brings MRI technology into the operation room, allowing patients to undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) while asleep rather than awake.
The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center and later this year, Jersey Shore University Medical Center are the only locations in New Jersey to offer High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HiFU). This unique non-invasive procedure effectively treats Parkinson’s tremors and essential tremors in cases where managing with medication hasn’t been effective, allowing patients to return to their normal activities without debilitating tremors.
For the treatment of brain cancer and other conditions of the head and neck, the Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center will offer Zap-X beginning this summer, a non-invasive precision treatment that delivers high-dose radiation to brain tumors, facial pain and arteriovenous malformations or twisted blood vessels that can cause clots leading to stroke, without destroying healthy brain cells. The Neuroscience Institute will be the sixth in the nation to have Zap-X, the only one in the Northeast, and globally the first to pair it with Synaptive MRI, shortening the time from diagnosis to treatment. The Neuroscience Institute also skillfully uses gamma knife and fluorescence-targeted radiation in the treatment of brain tumors, tremors and other neurological issues.
If brain or spine surgery is required, the Neuroscience Institute at JFK University Medical Center is one of a handful of hospitals nationally and the only one in New Jersey offering 3D imaging technology and intraoperative augmented reality imaging during surgery known as Surgical Theater. Neurosurgeons slip on a virtual reality headset and see exceptionally detailed images to determine the best strategy to target pathologies while preserving normal tissue. Doctors also use this technology to practice a surgery before they perform it and to demonstrate to patients what needs to be done.
Other technology available at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute include Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LiTT Technology), a minimally invasive surgical option for people with drug-resistant epilepsy and select brain tumors. DaTSCAN Camera, one of the most advanced diagnostic imaging technologies available, visualizes dopamine transporter levels in the brain. This is an effective tool in diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
Neuroscience Institute surgeons are skilled at using DBS to surgically implant a pacemaker-type device into the brain to control tremors. For sleep disorders, the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute offers two surgical options for obstructive sleep apnea that cannot be controlled with a CPAP machine.
Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute Has World-Class Physicians
The Neuroscience Institute’s advanced technology is even more powerful in the hands of its world-class physicians. From neurology, neuro-surgery, neuro-oncology, movement disorders, stroke, memory disorders, sleep, and headaches, the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute offers expert physicians in all areas. The Institute’s doctors are leaders and innovators in neurological treatments and surgeries. Bringing them all together in one institute allows more collaboration to combat a patient’s illness.
“No matter the neurological issue, the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute has a specialist ready to treat it with knowledge, compassion, and state-of-the-art tools in the hands of our renowned neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neuro-oncologists,” said Maria Coello, vice president of Care Transformation Services including Neurosciences, Hackensack Meridian Health.
Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute Participates in Groundbreaking Research
The Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute continues to innovate new treatments for neurological ailments, as technology and science evolve, participating in clinical trials and groundbreaking research. Neuroscience Institute patients are able to access cutting-edge technology and treatment breakthroughs for their neurological disorders.
Scientists at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute are researching and participating in clinical trials on topics including treatments for traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and stroke.
Teaching Future Physicians at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
The physicians at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute are also professors at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school opened in New Jersey in more than 50 years, which is training the next generation of neurologists and neurosurgeons on the innovative treatments and advancements being made. The School of Medicine’s progressive curriculum trains future doctors to not only treat a patient’s medical condition, but the underlying social determinants of health affecting them. The unique school trains diverse doctors who look like the country and the patients they serve. Nearly half of the class admitted in 2020 is female, and students speak 33 languages. Half of the class identifies as persons of color (other than white), and a quarter are from groups categorized as under-represented in medicine. Studies show patients are more likely to respond to a doctor from their cultural or ethnic background. More than half of the School of Medicine students go on to residencies at Hackensack Meridian hospitals, including within the Neuroscience Institute.
The new Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute advertising campaign launches the week of April 3. Click here to watch our new television commercial.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. The network has 18 hospitals and more than 500 patient care locations, which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers, physician practice locations, and a fitness and wellness center. With more than 35,000 team members and 7,000 physicians, Hackensack Meridian Health is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy and committed to the health and well-being of communities throughout New Jersey.
The network’s notable distinctions include having more U.S. News-ranked hospitals than any other health system in New Jersey, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, 2022-23. Hackensack University Medical Center is nationally-ranked by U.S. News & World Report in four specialties, more than any other hospital in New Jersey. Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, are ranked #1 in the state and top 20 in the Mid-Atlantic Region by U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 Best Children’s Hospital Report. Additionally, their combined nephrology program ranks in the top 50 in the United States. To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.
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