Dr. Melissa J. Armstrong, MD, MSc is the Director of the Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy Body Dementia at the University of Florida. She joined the UF Department of Neurology in 2015.

Dr. Armstrong graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1995 with a major in chemistry and a minor in philosophy. She completed medical school at the Stritch School of Medicine (Loyola University Chicago), where she subsequently completed a preliminary residency year in internal medicine and her neurology residency. Following her residency, she worked as a general neurologist at Loyola University Medical Center before pursuing fellowship training in movement disorders. Dr. Armstrong was a clinical and research fellow at the highly respected Morton & Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Centre in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) from 2008 through 2011 where she was an Edmond J. Safra Fellow in Movement Disorders. She also completed an MSc in clinical epidemiology and health care research at the University of Toronto Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation. Dr. Armstrong worked as an assistant professor in the Division of Movement Disorders at the University of Maryland from 2012 until moving to the University of Florida in 2015. During this time, she co-authored the book, “Parkinson’s Disease: Improving Patient Care” (Oxford American Neurology Library 2014). She was also recognized as part of the American Academy of Neurology’s Emerging Leaders Forum (2013-2014). In addition to her work in the field of movement disorders, she serves as an evidence-based medicine methodology consultant for the American Academy of Neurology, working on their clinical practice guideline development program.

At the University of Florida, Dr. Armstrong directs the Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy Body Dementia, one of 25 centers in the United States recognized as a Lewy Body Dementia Association Research Center of Excellence (2017 to current). She also serves on the Lewy Body Dementia Association Scientific Advisory Council. Dr. Armstrong’s Lewy body dementia research focuses on the lived experience of disease for individuals with Lewy body dementia and their families, ranging from patient and caregiver priorities for care to hospital outcomes to end-of-life experiences.

Florida in 2000. He subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor of Neurology upon completion of this fellowship and has remained with the department since.

Dr. Burks is also a staff physician at the Malcom Randall and Lake City Veteran Administration Health Care Centers.  He is co-director of the North Florida/South Georgia multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence.

I received degrees in chemical physics and political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, attended the University of Florida College of Medicine, trained in neurology at the University of Florida, and completed a fellowship in behavioral neurology with Kenneth M. Heilman. I have been a member of the faculty of the UF College of Medicine since 1987 and have provided clinical care, taught residents and medical students, and pursued research, primarily in behavioral neurology, neuroplasticity, and neurorehabilitation. My particular research interest has been in the application of parallel distributed processing theory to understand the neural basis of cognitive function, its breakdown with brain injury (particularly in the realm of language), and to develop cognitive rehabilitation strategies. Since 2013, I have been Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center.

Neal Weisbrod is a clinician educator with a focus on inpatient neurology and palliative care. He trained at the University of Rochester, New York for undergraduate education, medical school, and neurology residency. During neurology residency he developed a passion for high quality doctor-family communication in serious illness and went on to complete a fellowship in palliative care at the University of California, Los Angeles. His clinical focuses are neurohospitalist and palliative care consult practice. In the realm of education he enjoys teaching neurological localization and diagnostic decision making in addition to equipping trainees with the skills to navigate challenging conversations about serious illness and effectively manage symptoms at all stages of illness.

Dawn Bowers is a Professor and clinical/research neuropsychologist in the Departments of Clinical & Health Psychology and Neurology at the University of Florida. She is a UF Research Foundation Professor, the Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the Fixel Institute, and neuropsychology director for the UF Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration program. Dr. Bowers received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida, interned at Boston University/Boston Veterans Administration Hospital (with an externship at the Framingham Heart Project), and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral neurology at the University of Florida. She is internationally known for her expertise in neurocognitive and emotion processing changes associated with age related disorders including Parkinson disease, Essential Tremor, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurologic disorders. Her research has spanned  laterality, attention and memory, and neuropsychology of emotion using TMS, ERP, psychophysiology, near infrared stimulation, computational modeling, and face digitizing. She has received continuous research funding by NIH and other foundations since 1981. She has over 225 peer-reviewed research articles, over 350 peer-reviewed research presentations, 1 co-authored book, and 1 clinical test.   She is strongly committed to clinical and research training of predoctoral and post-doctoral fellows and is MPI of an NINDS-funded T32 in Interdisciplinary Training in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration. She sees patients clinically for neuropsychological assessment and intervention at the Fixel Center. Her lab website: https://cogneuro.phhp.ufl.edu

Dr. Glenn E. Smith is a Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Florida. He served as department chair from 2015-2021. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. A board-certified neuropsychologist, Dr. Smith has been a practicing clinician for over 30 years and has authored or co-authored almost 250 original articles, 14 book chapters, and 2 books on the neuropsychology of cognitive aging and dementia.