James E. Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., one of the most prominent neuroscientists in the country, and a professor of clinical biomedical science in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and a professor in FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, has led efforts to develop a number of dementia screening tools including the “Lewy Body Composite Risk Score” (LBCRS) and the "Quick Dementia Rating System" (QDRS).
Lewy Body disease (LBD) affects more than 1.3 million Americans, is poorly recognized, and diagnosis is often significantly delayed. Patients with LBD simultaneously experience losses in cognitive function, mobility and behavior. LBD also can cause visual hallucinations and make depression worse.
Galvin developed the “Lewy Body Composite Risk Score” to quickly and effectively diagnose LBD and Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) in about three minutes. The LBCRS is a brief rating scale that can be completed by a clinician to assess clinical signs and symptoms highly associated with the pathology of this disease. With this important tool, a clinician can assess whether the patient has bradykinesia, rigidity, postural instability, or rest tremor without having to grade each extremity. This simple, one-page survey provides structured yes/no questions for six non-motor features that are present in patients with LBD, but are much less commonly found in other forms of dementia.
Galvin has led efforts to develop a number of dementia screening tools, including the Quick Dementia Rating System, AD8, a brief informant interview to translate research findings to community settings. He has done cross-cultural validation of dementia screening methods in comparison with Gold Standard clinical evaluations and biomarker assays. His team also has developed sophisticated statistical models to explore transition points in clinical, cognitive, functional, behavioral and biological markers of disease in healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
He was recently appointed as a member of the Clinical Neuroscience and Neurodegenerative Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. He has generated millions of dollars in research funding from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alzheimer’s Association, Michael J. Fox Foundation, local and state departments of health and private foundations.
RSS