My research focuses on developing new and effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease as well as studying the cognitive and behavioral disturbances seen in mild cognitive impairment and early dementia. Our center is a major national site for clinical trials of experimental drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Biography

EDUCATION

1971-1975 B.S., Biology; Phi Beta Kappa
Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
1975-1979 M.D.; Arthur Krieger Memorial Prize in Neurology
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA
1979-1982 Internal Medicine Residency, Roger Williams Hospital
Brown Medical School, Providence, R.I.
1982-1985 Neurology Residency, Longwood Hospitals Program
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1982 American Board of Internal Medicine, Certificate
1982-1985 Clinical Fellow in Neurology, Harvard University
Medical School
1987 American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology,
Certificate
1989-1996 Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of
Clinical Neurosciences, Brown Medical School
1990-1991 Surdna Foundation Fellowship, Brown University Center
for Gerontology and Health Care Research
1991- Faculty Associate, Brown University Center for
Gerontology and Health Care Research
1991- Director of the Alzheimer's Disease and Memory
Disorders Center
Roger Williams Medical Center (1991-1996)
Memorial Hospital of RI (1996-2005)
Rhode Island Hospital (2005- )
1993-1999 Board of Directors, Alzheimer's Association, Rhode
Island Chapter
-- 1995-1999 President
1994 Geriatric Medicine Added Qualifications, American
Board of Internal Medicine, Certificate
1996-2002 Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of
Clinical Neurosciences, Brown Medical School
1996-2005 Associate Chief of Neurology, Memorial Hospital of
Rhode Island
1998- Faculty member, Brown University Center for Primary
Care and Prevention
2000- Faculty member, Brown University Brain Science Program
2002- Professor of Medicine, Department of Clinical
Neurosciences, Brown Medical School

Institutions

RIH

Research Description

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most important health problems facing our aging population today. The cognitive decline and behavioral problems posed by Alzheimer's disease and related dementia disorders produce not only substantial morbidity and mortality for the affected patients, but also a major socioeconomic burden for family caregivers and the community at large.

Mild cognitive impairment is increasingly recognized as a prodrome to dementia, usually of the Alzheimer type. A major emphasis of our research is to define the cognitive and behavioral changes that occur during the prodromal stage of dementia called mild cognitive impairment. We are a site for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a multicenter study funded by NIH, which seeks to define the earliest physical changes in the brain of persons with Alzheimer's disease using advanced neuroimaging techniques.

Among the many important behavioral problems seen in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is driving impairment. Currently we are examining the longitudinal effects of dementia on driving abilities in the elderly, using naturalistic recording techniques, in the hopes of developing a computerized screening test for hazardous driving due to such cognitive impairment.

Our research also focuses on developing new and effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease. Our center is a major site for multicenter clinical trials of experimental drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, including studies that led to the approval of tacrine and donepezil, the first two medications approved for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, and memantine, the latest medication approved for treatment. We are studying the long term effects of anti-dementia treatments in the institutional setting, and have reported on the effect of estrogen therapy as well as the reduced mortality seen in nursing home residents treated with cholinesterase inhibitors.

Selected Publications

• Grace J, Amick MM, D'Abreu A, Festa-Martino EK, Heindel WC, Ott BR. Neuropsychological and driving performance comparisons in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 11(6): 2005.(2005)
• Ott BR, Anthony D, Papandonatos GD, Sui Y, D'Abreu A, Burock J, Curtin A, Wu C-K, Morris JC. Clinician assessment of the driving competence of patients with dementia. J Am Geriatric Soc 53(5):829-833, 2005.(2005)
• Gasper MC, Ott BR, Lapane KL. Is donepezil therapy associated with reduced mortality in nursing home residents with dementia? Am J Geriatric Pharmacotherapy 3(1):1-7, 2005.(2005)
• Gunstad J, Brickman AM, Paul RH, Browndyke J, Moser DJ, Ott BR, Gordon N, Cohen RA. Progressive morphometric and cognitive changes in vascular dementia. Arch Clin Neuropsychology. 20:229-241, 2005.(2005)
• Brown LB, Ott BR, Papandonatos GD, Sui Y, Ready RE, Morris JC. Prediction of on-road driving performance by patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. J Am Geriatr Soc. 53(1):94-98, 2005.(2005)
• Brown LB, Stern RA, Cahn-Weiner DA, Rogers, B, Davis MA, Lannon MC, Maxwell C, Souza T, White T, Ott BR. Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) driving scenes and on-road driving performance in aging and very mild dementia. Arch Neuropsychology. 20:209-215, 2005.(2005)
• Ready RE, Ott BR, Grace J. Factor structure of patient and informant ratings on the Dementia Quality of Life Instrument. Aging Neuropsychology Cognition, accepted March 2005.(2005)
• Stern RA, Davis JD, Rogers BL, Smith KM, Harrington CJ, Ott BR, Jackson IM, Prange AJ. Preliminary study of the relationship between thyroid status and cognitive and neuropsychiatric functioning in euthyroid patients with Alzheimer's dementia. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. 17(4):219-223, 2004.(2004)
• Brown LB, Ott BR. Driving and dementia: A review of the literature. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 17(4):232-240, 2004.(2004)
• Festa-Martino E, Ott BR, Heindel WC. Interactions between phasic alerting and exogenous attentional orienting: Effects of normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychology 18(2):258-268, 2004.(2004)
• Ready RE, Ott BR, Grace J. Validity of informant reports about AD and MCI patients'memory. Alz Disease Assoc Disorders 18(1):11-16, 2004.(2004)
• Ready RE, Ott BR, Grace J. Patient vs informant perspectives of quality of life in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 19(3):256-265, 2004.(2004)
• Garrett KD, Browndyke JN, Whelihan W, Paul RH, DiCarlo M, Moser DJ, Cohen RA, Ott BR. The neuropsychological profile of vascular cognitive impairment - no dementia: Comparisons to patients at risk for cerebrovascular disease and vascular dementia. Arch Clin Neuropsychology, 19(6):745-757, 2004.(2004)
• Ott BR, Heindel WC, Whelihan WM, Caron MD, Piatt AL, DiCarlo MA. Maze test performance and reported driving ability in early dementia. J Geriatr Psych Neurol. 16(3):151-155, 2003.(2003)
• Cahn-Weiner DA, Malloy PF, Rebok GW, Ott BR. Preliminary results of a randomized placebo-controlled study of memory training for mildly impaired Alzheimer's disease patients. Appl Neuropsychol 10(4):215-223, 2003.(2003)
• Ready RE, Ott BR. Quality of Life Measures for Dementia. Health Qual Life Outcomes, Apr 23;1(1):11, 2003.(2003)
• Ott BR, Heindel WC, Papandonatos GD. A survey of voter participation by cognitively impaired elderly patients. Neurology, 60:1546-1548, 2003.(2003)
• Paul RH, Cohen RA, Moser DJ, Ott BR, Sweet L, Browndyke J, Malloy P, Garrett K. Clinical correlates of cognitive decline in vascular dementia. Cogn Behav Neurol, 16(1):40-46,2003.(2003)
• Ready RE, Grace J, Ott BR, Cahn-Weiner D. Apathy and executive dysfunction in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, 11(2):222-228, 2003.(2003)
• Ready RE, Ott BR, Grace J. Amnestic behavior in dementia: symptoms to assist in early detection and diagnosis. J Am Geriatric Soc 51:32-37, 2003.(2003)
• Sweet LH, Paul RH, Cohen RA, Moser D, Ott BR, Gordon N, Browndyke J, Shah P, Garrett KD. Neuroimaging correlates of Dementia Rating Scale performance at baseline and 12-month follow-up among patients with vascular dementia. J Geriatr Psych Neurol 16(4):240-244, 2003.(2003)
• Zawacki TM, Grace J, Paul RH, Moser DJ, Ott BR, Gordon N, Cohen RA. Behavioral problems as predictors of functional abilities of vascular dementia patients. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci, 14(3):296-302,2002.(2002)
• Ott BR, Lapane KL, Belazi D. Cognitive decline among female estrogen users in nursing homes. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med, 57(9):M594-M598, 2002.(2002)
• Cohen RA, Paul R, Moser D, Stone W, Ott BR, Zawacki T, Gordon N. The relationship of MRI hyperintensities and brain volume to cognitive function in vascular dementia. J Int Neuropsychol Soc, 8(6):743-752, 2002.(2002)
• Paul RH, Cohen RA, Moser DJ, Zawacki T, Ott BR, Gordon N, Stone W. The Global Deterioration Scale: relationships to neuropsychological performance and activities of daily living in patients with vascular dementia. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, 15(1):50-54, 2002.(2002)
• Cahn-Weiner DA, Grace J, Ott BR, Fernandez HH, Friedman JH. Cognitive and behavioral features discriminate between Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients. Neuropsych Neuropsychol Behav Neurol, 15(2):79-87, 2002.(2002)
• Ott BR, Lapane KL. Tacrine therapy is associated with reduced mortality in nursing home residents with dementia. J Am Geriatric Soc, 50:35-40, 2002.(2002)
• Ready RE, Ott BR, Grace J, Fernandez I. The Cornell-Brown Scale for quality of life in dementia. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord, 16(2):109-115, 2002.(2002)
• Cohen RA, Paul RH, Zawacki TM, Sethi M, Ott BR, Moser DJ, Stone W, Noto R, Gordon N. Single photon emission computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging hyperintensity, and cognitive impairments in patients with vascular dementia. J Neuroimaging, 11(3):253-260, 2001.(2001)
• Paul R, Cohen R, Moser D, Ott B, Zawacki T, Gordon N. Performance on the Hooper Visual Organizational Test in patients diagnosed with subcortical vascular dementia: Relation to naming performance. Neuropsych Neuropsychol Behav Neurol, 14(1):93-97, 2001.(2001)
• Paul R, Cohen R, Moser D, Ott BR, Gordon N, Zawacki T, Bell S, Stone W. Performance on the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale among patients with vascular dementia: relationships to neuroimaging findings. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, 14(1):33-6, 2001(2001)
• Moser DJ, Cohen RA, Paul R, Paulsen JS, Ott BR, Gordon N, Bell S, Stone W. Executive function and magnetic resonance imaging subcortical hyperintensities in vascular dementia. Neuropsych Neuropsychol Behav Neurol, 14(2):89-92, 2001(2001)
• Ott BR, Noto RB. Sensitivity of SPECT for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Clin Gerontologist, 22(1):73-82, 2000.(2000)
• Ott BR, Heindel WC, Tan Z, Noto RB. Lateralized cortical perfusion in women with Alzheimer's disease. J Gender Specific Med, 3:29-35, 2000.(2000)
• Ott BR, Heindel WC, Whelihan WM, Caron MD, Piatt AL, Noto RB. A SPECT imaging study of driving impairment in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Dementia Geriatric Cogn Disorders, 11:153-160, 2000.(2000)
• Ott BR, Lapane KL, Gambassi G. Gender differences in the treatment of behavior problems in Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 54:427-432, 2000.(2000)
• Paul R, Cohen R, Ott B, Zawacki T, Moser D, Davis J, Stone W. Cognitive and functional status in two subtypes of vascular dementia. Neurorehabilitation, 15(3):199-205, 2000.(2000)
• Fernandez HH, Lapane KL, Ott BR, Friedman JH, for the SAGE Study Group. Gender differences in the frequency and treatment of behavior problems in Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders, 15:490-496, 2000.(2000)
• Ott BR. Cognition and behavior in patients with Alzheimer's disease. J Gender Specific Med, 2:63-69, 1999.(1999)
• Ott BR, Owen NJ. Complementary and alternative medicines for Alzheimer's disease. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, 11:163-173, 1999.(1999)
• Ott BR, Faberman RS, Noto RB, Rogg JM, Hough TJ, Tung GA, Spencer PK. A SPECT imaging study of MRI white matter hyperintensity in patients with degenerative dementia. Dementia Geriatr Cogn Disorders, 8:348-354,1997.(1997)
• Ott BR, Thompson JA, Whelihan WM. Cognitive effects of flumazenil in patients with Alzheimer's disease. J Clin Psychopharmacology. 16:400-402,1996.(1996)
• Ott BR, Lafleche G, Whelihan WM, Buongiorno GW, Albert MS, Fogel BS. Impaired awareness of deficits in Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Disease Assoc Dis. 10:68-76, 1996.(1996)
• Ott BR, Tate CA, Gordon NM, Heindel WC. Gender differences in the behavioral manifestations of Alzheimer's disease. J Am Geriatr Soc. 44:583-587, 1996.(1996)
• Ott BR. The clinical importance of gender differences in the presentation and management of Alzheimer's disease. Nursing Home Med. 4:1D-6D,1996.(1996)
• Ott BR, Noto RB, Fogel BS. Apathy and loss of insight in Alzheimer's disease: A SPECT imaging study. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosciences. 8:41-46, 1996.(1996)
• Rich SS, Friedman JH, Ott BR. Risperidone versus clozapine in the treatment of psychosis in six patients with parkinson's disease and other akinetic-rigid syndromes. J Clin Psychiatry. 56:556-559, 1995.(1995)
• Ott BR. Leuprolide treatment of sexual aggression in a patient with dementia and the Kluver-Bucy syndrome. Clinical Neuropharmacology. 18:443-447, 1995.(1995)
• Ott BR, Ellias SA, Lannon MC. Quantitative assessment of movement in Alzheimer's disease. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 8:71-75, 1995.(1995)
• Ott BR, Saver JL. Unilateral amnesic stroke: Six new cases and a review of the literature. Stroke. 24:1033-1042, 1993.(1993)
• Ott BR, Fogel BS. Measurement of depression in dementia: Self vs clinician rating. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 7:899-904, 1992.(1992)
• Ott BR, Lannon MC. Exacerbation of parkinsonism by tacrine. Clinical Neuropharmacology. 15:222-25, 1992.(1992)