San Francisco Chronicle Explores "The Other Dementia"

San Francisco Chronicle writer Katherine Nichols' interest in frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a degenerative brain disease, stems from her experience with a loved one who suffers from the disease. Bruce Miller, MD, director of UCSF's Memory and Aging Center; Howie Rosen, MD, a neurologist at UCSF; Jennifer Merrilees, RN, MS, a doctoral student in geriatrics and nurse who led UCSF's FTD caregiver support group; and clinical behavioral neurology fellow Brandy Matthews, MD, discuss the devastating characteristics of FTD and their commitment to find effective treatments and a cure. Miller's much-publicized exploration of the artistic talents elicited in many FTD patients is a testament to his ability "to recognize something beautiful that has come out of something horrible," said Matthews. Related Links: The Other Dementia: UCSF Is at the Forefront Studying Frontotemporal Dementia, a Wasting Disease Similar to Alzheimer's that Strikes Patients at Their Peak San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, February 25, 2007 Study Offers Window into Human Behavior, Brain Disease UCSF News Release, December 22, 2006 Rare Cases of Dementia Stimulate Artistic Juices UCSF Daybreak, October 20, 1998 UCSF Memory and Aging Center