James E. Galvin MD, MPH

Dr. James E. Galvin is the Founding Director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health and Professor of Neurology and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He is a board-certified Neurologist and Chief of the Cognitive Neurology Division.

Previously, Dr. Galvin served on the Faculty at Hahnemann University, Washington University in St Louis, New York University, and Florida Atlantic University. He is Director and Principal Investigator of the Lewy Body Dementia Association Research Center of Excellence, one of 25 Centers in the United States. The National Institutes of Health have continuously funded him for more than 20 years and have awarded nearly 100 million dollars in Federal and State grants. He has published more than 275 peer-reviewed papers in top-tier scientific journals.

Dr. Galvin’s research focus is on the development of novel and innovative approaches to study brain health and the risk of cognitive impairment, holding 13 copyrights for instruments used across the world, including the AD8, Quick Dementia Rating System (QDRS), and Lewy Body Composite Risk Score (LBCRS).

He leads a multidisciplinary team of physicians, scientists, nurses, social workers, and physical therapists to investigate clinical, cognitive, functional, and behavioral features of healthy brain aging and neurodegenerative disease and their relationship to novel biomarkers of brain pathology including structural, functional and diffusion MRI, amyloid and tau PET scans, blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, electrophysiology, and computer-based behavioral testing. Of particular interest to Dr Galvin and his team is the impact of sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic locale on brain health and the risk of future cognitive and functional impairment.

His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Alzheimer’s Association, American Federation for Aging Research, Michael J Fox Foundation, Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Lewy Body Dementia Association, the Departments of Health of Florida, New York and Missouri, and numerous private and family foundations.