Argye E. Hillis
Dr. Argye Beth Hillis is a Professor of Neurology, with joint faculty appointments in Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation and in Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Hillis serves as the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology, and Director of the Cerebrovascular Division of Neurology Prior to medical training and neurology residency, Dr. Hillis worked as a speech-language pathologist, and conducted clinical research focusing on understanding and treating aphasia and hemispatial neglect. She has brought these areas of experience to impact on her clinical research in neurology, which involves cognitive and neuroimaging studies of aphasia and cognitive deficits due to right hemisphere stroke and focal dementias. Dr. Hillis's current research combines longitudinal task-related and task-free functional imaging and structural imaging from the acute stage of stroke through the first year of recovery, with detailed cognitive and language assessments to improve our understanding how language and other cognitive and emotional functions recover after stroke. She is investigating the most effective timing of neuromodulatory treatments, such as transcranial direct current stimulation and medications, to augment behavioral therapies after stroke.
Her other avenue of research involves novel treatment studies and longitudinal imaging and language studies of Primary Progressive Aphasia. (PPA), a progressive problem with language function. Some types of Primary Progressive Aphasia are caused by a neurodegenerative disease called Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD) or related diseases, whereas others are caused by an atypical form of Alzheimer’s Disease. Dr. Hillis has published numerous articles on the nature of Primary Progressive Aphasia, and how it changes over time. She is currently studying two forms of treatment of PPA, language therapy (in a study funded by NIH) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.
Dr. Hillis is Associate Editor Aphasiology, and has served as Co-Editor-in Chief of Behavioural Neurology, Associate Editor of of Brain, Annals of Neurology, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Cognitive Neuropsychology, and Language and Cognitive Processes. She also serves on the editorial boards of Brain and Language and Stroke. Dr. Hillis was the 2003 recipient of the Derek Denny Brown Neurological Scholar Award from the American Neurological Association and the Norman Geschwind Award in Behavioral Neurology from the American Academy of Neurology. Her current research is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NINDS and NIDCD).
The Associated Press released an article on SCORE Lab’s novel evaluations and treatment of primary progressive aphasia (using transcranial direct current stimulation along with language therapy), following her presentation at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in February, 2016. This article was reported in more than 20 newspapers across the country as well as many websites, e.g. www.zmescience.com/medicine/ppa-aphasia-treatment-0423534
The Baltimore Sun reported on our recently initiated study of aphasia treatment using transcranial direct current stimulation in subacute stroke, supported by an 11 million dollar P50 award: www.baltimoresun.com/health/blog/bal-stroke-study-story.html
Dr. Hillis currently sees patients at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in Baltimore on Fridays and Johns Hopkins Greenspring Station on the first Wednesday of most months.