User:Paulagustin/Melissa J. Armstrong

Melissa J. Armstrong
Dr. Melissa J. Armstrong is currently holding the position of the Director of the University of Florida's Mangurian Clinical-Research Center for Lewy Body and Parkinson's Disease Dementia. In 2015, she entered the University of Florida's Department of Neurology and Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration.

Early Life and Education
Dr. Armstrong earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a minor in philosophy from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1995. She earned her medical degree from Loyola University Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine, where she has completed an internal medicine preliminary residency year and a neurology residency.

Career
Dr. Armstrong practiced as a general neurologist at Loyola University Medical Center for a year after completing her residency before seeking fellowship training in movement disorders. From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Armstrong worked as a clinical and research fellow at the Morton & Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Centre in Toronto, Ontario, where she was also an Edmond J. Safra Fellow in Movement Disorders. She also earned a master's degree in clinical epidemiology and health-care research from the University of Toronto's Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation. She co-authored the book “Parkinson's Disease: Improving Patient Care” (Oxford American Neurology Library 2014) during this period. She was also elected to the Emerging Leaders Forum of the American Academy of Neurology during 2013-2014. She also works as an evidence-based medicine methodology consultant for the American Academy of Neurology, focusing on their clinical practice guideline creation program, additional to her work in the area of movement disorders.

Research
Dr. Armstrong's research interests are divided into two main categories. She is particularly interested in cognitive dysfunction (memory and thinking problems) in parkinsonian disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Lewy Body Dementia, and atypical parkinsonisms. She is focused on approaches to diagnose and treat cognitive disability, as well as ideas to increase quality of life for people with cognitive impairment, their caregivers, and their families, as part of this project. Part of her research is based on actively engaging patients and their care caregivers in order to better understand the issues that are important to them on a regular basis. Dr. Armstrong also conducts studies on best practices in neurology for the development of clinical practice guidelines. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has provided her with funding to investigate the effect of including patients, caregivers, and patient advocates in the creation of guidelines.