News from the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital
June, 2022
Butler Hospital has announced that Stephen Salloway, MD, MS, director of neurology and the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital, who is an internationally recognized leader in clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has decided to pass along leadership of the program to a new director, though he will continue to work on research studies there. Memory and Aging Program Associate Director Dr. Meghan Riddle will serve as Interim Director until a new director is named, with Dr. Salloway acting as a consult.
In addition to his roles at Butler Hospital, Dr. Salloway is also the Martin M. Zucker Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Professor of Neurology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Associate Director of the Brown University Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research. He will continue in those roles and will continue to conduct research at the Memory and Aging Program after stepping down as director.
“It has been my honor and privilege to lead the Butler Hospital Memory and Aging Program for the past 25 years. Thanks to the dedication of our staff and contribution of thousands of study volunteers, the Memory and Aging Program has grown into a leading international center for Alzheimer’s research,” Dr. Salloway said. “Working together, we have opened the modern era for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and I look forward to continuing to work with the Butler Memory and Aging Program and the Brown Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research to make exciting new advances in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.”
“As Director of Neurology and the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital, Dr. Salloway has been a tremendous asset to Butler Hospital and to individuals who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease. Dr. Salloway is internationally known for his work advancing the diagnosis and treatment of this terrible disease, and we will remain forever grateful that he dedicated his career to this effort. Butler Hospital and Care New England look forward to continuing our work with Brown to advance AD research, including creating a caring environment that encourages people of all backgrounds to participate in research and take advantage of new treatments,” said Mary Marran, MS, OT, MBA, president and COO, Butler Hospital.
Dr. Salloway’s program at Care New England’s Butler Hospital has conducted more than 100 clinical trials for Alzheimer’s and related disorders, and he is among the world’s top physicians and researchers on Alzheimer’s disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in America. The program has embarked on a multitude of landmark Alzheimer’s studies focused on the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s.
Most notably, in recent years, Dr. Salloway was one of the lead researchers in the development of Aduhelm, a pharmaceutical drug developed by Biogen that has paved the way for further development of a revolutionary new line of possible treatments for combatting the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.
His extensive work on Aduhelm, as well as other important Alzheimer’s disease research throughout his decades-long career, has garnered him global media attention, including articles featuring him and his work at Butler Hospital in TIME magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, NOVA, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, and Good Morning America, among many others. He has also published more than 400 scientific articles and abstracts including lead authorship on pivotal trials in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Nature, JAMA Neurology and the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. He has edited 3 books on the topics of neuropsychiatric illness and vascular dementia and he lectures widely about the early diagnosis and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
He has helped to plan the initial protocol for a key trial that showed amyloid PET scans can significantly improve the accurate diagnosis and subsequent medical management of patients with mild dementia. He co-authored a study that found that the brain damage that leads to Alzheimer’s can be detected with a simple blood test up to 16 years before symptoms appear, allowing for earlier intervention and more effective treatment, and he co-authored Appropriate Use Criteria to guide healthcare providers in using another simple and safe tool – a spinal tap – to identify individuals at risk for developing Alzheimer’s years before symptoms appear.
He has chaired the Steering Committees for major AD pivotal trials, such as bapineuzumab and aducanumab, and he has been a lead author for key publications in Alzheimer’s research in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and other top-tiered journals that have helped shaped the field of Alzheimer’s research. He also serves on the steering committees for major biomarker and clinical trials and consortia such as ADNI, DIAN, ACTC, GAP-NET, and LEADS.
Dr. Salloway serves as a senior scientific advisor to Prothena and Acumen and has served as a consultant for drug and biomarker development to Biogen, Lilly, Eisai, Amylyx, Alnylam, Novartis, Ono, Amgen, Avid, Axovant, Bolden, GE Healthcare, Gemvax, Janssen, Genentech, Roche, NovoNordisk, Pfizer and Takeda.
He is the Past President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, and a member of the American Neurological Association. He serves as a consultant for drug development to the NIH, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Discovery Foundation, and many other groups working on Alzheimer’s therapeutics.
In May 2019 Dr. Salloway was elected to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame and was selected as the 2019 Rhode Island Man of the Year for his work on Alzheimer’s research. Dr. Salloway received his MD from Stanford Medical School and completed residencies in neurology and psychiatry at Yale University.
Care New England’s Butler Hospital is currently in the process of conducting a national search to replace Dr. Salloway.