Focus Area: Research

This project aimed to improve the care of Wisconsin residents living with dementia by increasing primary care provider and trainees’ knowledge and skills related to dementia diagnosis and management of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Alzheimer’s disease currently affects 110,000 Wisconsinites and the number is expected to increase to 130,000 by 2025. About 90 percent of individuals with dementia experience BPSD, which includes depression, physical aggression, wandering and sleep disturbance, among others. As a result, there is a need to train future and practicing primary care clinicians in the identification and management of BPSD to help caregivers manage these behaviors in the home setting, potentially preventing crisis escalation and unnecessary institutionalization. The project successfully increased medical trainees’ and primary care providers’ knowledge and skills in dementia diagnosis and BPSD management. A web-based curriculum for third- and fourth-year medical students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health improved students’ self-reported attitudes towards dementia care and informed the design of a new Dementia and Public Health elective that began in 2023. Additionally, academic detailing sessions for primary care providers at Richland Center Hospital and Milwaukee Health Services resulted in significant knowledge gains and improved confidence in managing BPSD. Lastly, the DICE Approach was used to train social workers, nurses, medical assistants and assisted living and nursing home frontline staff and led to increased knowledge, self-efficacy and comfort in managing BPSD.

This research will study brain and cardiovascular health in transgender adult patients receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy at two timepoints: before hormone therapy begins, and after four to six months of therapy. The goal of the study is to assess links between gender affirming hormone therapy, cardiovascular health and brain structure and function. MRI will be used to analyze brain structure and brain blood flow. Body fat will be assessed by Dual X-ray Absorptiometry and aerobic fitness will be assessed using a treadmill test. This analysis is also relevant to other conditions involving hormone disruptions such as puberty, menopause, pregnancy, aging, postpartum, diabetes and obesity.

Patients with leptomeningeal metastatic disease (LMD), the spread of cancer into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, can exhibit loss of vision, hearing, speech, and facial movement and sensation. If not treated, LMD will typically cause death within weeks. Current standard treatment for patients with LMD involves radiotherapy that treats LMD and normal tissues of the head and spine. This project will investigate a new therapeutic approach that can more effectively and more safely treat patients with LMD to achieve disease control and improve patient survival while limiting dose to normal tissues of the brain and bone.

This project focuses on developing and testing a new strategy to treat ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is a daunting diagnosis because it is a rapidly progressive and metastatic type of cancer, and most people are diagnosed at a late stage of disease. Researchers will test an approach of using dendritic cells to stimulate patient T cells and induce an anti-tumor immune response in patients with ovarian cancer. This project lays the foundation for potential future clinical trials to test this novel approach to train patients’ own immune cells to find and eradicate their ovarian cancer.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal lung condition where tissue becomes scarred and hardened, and its prevalence in the United States is increasing. Using cutting edge proteomics and bioinformatics technologies and methodologies, researchers aim to better understand how fibrosis happens in order to find ways to reverse it. The project will lay the groundwork for the development of precise therapeutics tailored to combat fibrotic lung alterations.

This project aims to develop a novel treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and Wisconsin, by using a unique shark-derived antibody. The goal is to improve treatment outcomes for patients who have an abnormal MET protein and a generally worse prognosis. Researchers will focus on creating a highly targeted therapy that combines radiation with this specialized antibody to attack cancer cells more effectively.