Our Clinical Facilities

The clinical program within the Center of Excellence on Brain Aging provides comprehensive care to patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders affecting cognition.

There are two major outpatient facilities: 

1. The Pearl Barlow Center for Memory Evaluation and Treatment
2. The Parkinson and Movement Disorders Center 

The Barlow Center incorporates specialty clinics including one devoted to Non-Alzheimer’s disease dementias and Prion diseases, and another unit which specializes in Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus and is the only one of its kind in NYC.

The Pearl Barlow Center for Memory Evaluation and Treatment

Regarded as NYC’s most comprehensive treatment center for memory disorders of all origins, The Pearl Barlow Center provides comprehensive diagnostic services and care to patients with memory problems and to their families, encompassing best practices in medicine, psychiatry and neurology, including pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments.  This interdisciplinary medical approach integrated with world class research capabilities is the most comprehensive and first of its kind in the treatment of memory disorders in New York City.

Assembled with a renowned team of neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, geriatric specialists and nurses, the Barlow Center addresses the needs of those suffering from memory disorders caused by neurological, psychological, and physical ailments as well as memory issues resulting from medication side effects, anxiety, depression and the effects of normal aging.  Our focus: to treat memory changes which include Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and disease-related memory loss; to monitor and evaluate memory changes caused by normal aging; and to reduce risk factors for memory decline (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease).

Diagnoses and treatments at The Barlow are rooted in the wealth of past and present research emanating from NYU investigators.  A distinctive offering of the Center is the access patients have to diagnostic and treatment modalities that are presently in the research phase.  By tapping into this pool of research, an additional level of precision may augment the diagnosis with the possibility and/or probability of detecting impairment at its earliest stage, thereby enabling early interventions including research protocols.  The interface is facilitated by the electronic record keeping and the use of clinical instruments for evaluation that are the equivalent or compatible with those utilized for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Registry, eliminating significant redundancy of effort should a patient enter a research protocol.  This facilitated interface is yet another unique capability of Barlow.

Our clinicians have shared commitments in academic medicine, clinical research, or both.  A majority devote a significant percentage of their time to research projects, either as principal investigators or research trainees.  Thus, they are able to share and offer their patients highly effective, approved treatments unavailable elsewhere.  Equally important, our patients have access to the COE’s unique nationally recognized research program focusing on caregiver stress and the crucial role of caregivers in maintaining quality of life for patients with dementia.  Key elements of this approach involve counseling, work-life management, and caregiver skills both on physical and emotional care, particularly in challenging situations.

 Specialty Clinics of the Barlow Center:

1. Non-Alzheimer’s disease dementias and Prion diseases

At least 4.5 million Americans have an incurable form of dementia. Approximately 20 to 40% of these have a non-Alzheimer dementia.  The second most common cause is vascular cognitive impairment. Assessing for vascular related brain injury is a critical part of patient evaluations in the Barlow Center, as the risk factors which contribute to this dysfunction can be controlled. In addition patients need to be placed on the appropriate medication for prophylaxis against future strokes. Other very significant causes of non-Alzheimer's disease dementias include diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD), fronto-temporal dementias (FTD) and prion diseases. Each of these disorders has a characteristic clinical presentation and requires specific therapeutic interventions, distinct from Alzheimer's disease.  Investigators in this COE and at the Barlow center are at the forefront of developing novel therapeutic interventions for prevention of non-Alzheimer’s disease dementias and prion diseases.

      2.  Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Unit

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) is one of the few reversible explanations for progressive dementia, and motor impairment in older adults.  Treatment by means of ventricular shunt surgery can dramatically enhance quality of life through amelioration of gait and balance disturbances, fall prevention, improved cognition, restoration of bladder function, and psychiatric wellbeing. NPH affects patients of all ages but is most commonly considered in geriatric populations.  For patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other age-associated neurodegenerative illnesses, the possibility that NPH may be a surgically treatable alternative explanation often prompts multiple specialty referrals and highlights a need for greater diagnostic expertise. Our clinical service combines neurologic, neurosurgical, gait and neuropsychologic assessments and collaborate with other programs within NYU.  We provide an array of comprehensive diagnostic services for identifying neurosurgical candidates, estimating co-morbidity and outlining, when applicable, alternative management strategies.  Additionally, we provide neurosurgical treatment when indicated; neurologic, psychiatric, surgical, interdisciplinary rehabilitative therapy, and social service follow-up at regular intervals using quantitative measures of clinical status; and establish a fall prevention program.

The Parkinson and Movement Disorders Center

As the second most common neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson’s Disease (PD) affects an estimated 1.2-1.5 million individuals in the U.S., and 1.5 million family caregivers suffer physical, emotional and financial strain.  Its prevalence is expected to double worldwide by 2025.  PD remains incurable, progressively eroding the person’s ability to perform common motor skills, and over time, leading to significant autonomic dysfunction, dementia, depression and other neuro-psychiatric problems, social isolation, and often nursing home placement.

The NYU Parkinson and Movement Disorders Center is a comprehensive care facility providing comprehensive care from inpatient to outpatient to community-based services. Our Center’s growing cadre of talented scientists and clinicians, and its strong clinical care patient base have created a viable potential to develop and test new models of care and promote translational research. We provide compassionate, family-centered and comprehensive clinical care to optimize physical and psychological well-being, and quality of life for patients and family caregivers.  We offer a continuum of clinical and psychosocial services across PD stages, including outpatient medical diagnostic and treatment by movement disorders specialists, surgical screening and follow-up, DBS programming, and botulinum toxin treatment as well as psycho-social assessment and counseling, information/referral and education, and caregiver support services. Short-term (10-14 days) inpatient evaluation and intensive rehabilitation services for complex advanced stage cases (the first such program in the Northeast U.S) are offered at NYU’s Rusk Institute.

In addition, the Center has various community outreach programs including a lecture series, creative arts program, etc.  One of special importance is a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Jewish Community Center. The NYU/JCC Wellness program offers fitness classes specifically designed for patients by Parkinson-trained fitness instructors.