A groundbreaking brain study at the Cleveland Clinic is expanding.
It began on the main campus back in 2022; now, volunteers can participate at a new neurological hub.
“Because of the issues we had finding space to accommodate that many people, we had, unfortunately, some of our volunteers had to wait sometimes, months and in the beginning more than a year to get in,” said Vice Chair for the Neurological Institute at Cleveland Clinic and the Director of the Epilepsy Center, Imad Najm, MD. “So, there is a very big need to expand or to scale our ability to enroll a higher number of individuals.”
The outpatient hub is in Beachwood, at 3050 Science Park Drive.
According to the Cleveland Clinic’s website, the study will collect data from up to 20,000 “neurologically healthy participants for up to 20 years.” The goal is to understand the causes of neurodegenerative disease before symptoms begin.
It includes conditions like Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease.
“My mom was such a vibrant person, she loved having fun, she loved being around family, she just, she loved life,” said Teresa Brewer of Bay Village. “It was very, very, very difficult to watch that decline and how it progresses.”
Brewer said her mother died from complications of Alzheimer’s. Her grandmother suffered from the disease as well. Brewer is the first person to enroll in the brain study.
She’s reminded of how Alzheimer’s affected her mother’s short-term memory, especially at the doctor’s office.
“I remember vividly when we took my mom for her first appointment, her words were apple, penny, car, and she could not remember them after like the first half an hour, she could not remember those,” said Brewer. “That’s just etched in my head that oh, wait, those three words that if I can’t remember these… that I’m starting to show some slowing cognitive ability.”
Brewer works full-time to keep her brain active. She’s also started a new diet and new routines.
“I’m just trying to overall be healthy, but that doesn’t always help, but it at least can slow things down,” she said.
Brewer is an advocate for the study and encourages others to get involved. “My why is my mom, but my reasons are my two sons and my new granddaughter and my new grandson, those are the things that keep me going.”
So far, more than 4700 people from across the country have signed up to participate in the study that brings them to the Cleveland Clinic facilities once a year.
For more information on how you can get involved, click here.
