UT Southwestern Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute

02/19/2026

Patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers are invited to the 2026 Hope After Brain Injury Conference. This year's theme is Creating Balance Between Acceptance, Emotions, and Energy. Experts in brain injury and rehabilitation from the O'Donnell Brain Institute and other institutions will speak on topics such as mental health and caring for the caregiver.
Register now to join us for this free event: https://bit.ly/3MDG9rE

02/17/2026

OBI Investigator, Dr. Chen Liu, and colleagues discovered a crucial developmental process in the hypothalamus that may influence how susceptible someone is to obesity. The finding sheds light on how the brain establishes lifelong metabolic set points. https://bit.ly/3Odpfkm

02/16/2026

A patient misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) struggled for many years with what appeared to be typical PD symptoms. But a visit to UT Southwestern in 2024 led Dick Nash to a specialist team in the O'Donnell Brain Institute who diagnosed him with a rare brain condition.

A team at the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern diagnosed a patient with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), a rare condition caused by excess fluid accumulating in the brain. After treatment, the patient has regained much of the functionality he thought he’d lost forever.

02/12/2026

UT Southwestern will operate the first state acute care behavioral health hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Texas Behavioral Health Center opens this summer with 292 beds expanding access to mental health care for adults and children.

Developed in partnership with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the state-funded facility – the first of its kind in DFW – is slated to open this summer

02/09/2026

Dr. Kathy Niu, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, is co-editor of the new textbook, "Psychiatric Neurology: A Clinical Approach." The text provides practical, up-to-date guidance on the evaluation and diagnosis of neurological disorders and their presentations.

02/03/2026

UT Southwestern epidemiologist, Dr. Wendy Wang, co-led a study that found changes in older adults' daily "rest-activity" patterns could be a clue to risk. Read about what the findings mean for populations underrepresented in previous research. https://bit.ly/4t1LA49

Disruptions in patterns of daily activity and rest may provide early clues to heightened dementia risk, a study co-led by a UT Southwestern Medical Center scientist found.

02/02/2026

Dr. Jenny Riecke, an O'Donnell Brain Institute Clinical Neuroscience Scholar, is expanding the neuropalliative care clinic that she established at UT Southwestern in 2023. The clinic will grow to include services such as chaplaincy and educational opportunities for future neurologists and palliative care professionals. Dr. Riecke started the program to improve the qualilty of life for patients living with progressive diseases such as Parkinson's and dementia.
https://bit.ly/49MKthh

01/29/2026

In a research collaboration that unites experimental and theoretical neuroscience, OBI Investigators, Drs. Todd Roberts and Wenhao Zhang, resolve a long-standing question about how interacting brain regions generate seamless motor behaviors such as speech.
https://bit.ly/4k6i8WJ

01/27/2026

Psychiatrist Dr. Collin Vas specializes in diagnosing and treating mood and anxiety disorders including body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Dr. Vas says BDD is when someone becomes intensely preoccupied with a specific body feature they see as flawed, asymmetric, or unattractive. Many people struggle for years before finally getting the right diagnosis, but once it is identified, the condition is highly treatable. Learn more.
https://lnkd.in/gGySqH2X

01/22/2026

OBI Investigator, Lu Sun, Ph.D. (right), & Aksheev Bhambri, Ph.D., developed a new research tool that sheds light on myelination. Learn how the discovery is providing deeper understanding of how neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis develop. https://bit.ly/49PPmEZ

01/09/2026

Alumni of the UT Southwestern Stroke Program are invited to join us for a networking event during the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans. We also welcome nurses, physicians, and administrative personnel interested in joining the stroke team to attend and connect with us. Medical Co-Directors, Dr. Babu Welch and Dr. Parth Upadhyaya, will be there to meet and greet attendees. RSVP to taylor.norman@utsouthwestern.edu

01/05/2026

Lukasz Joachimiak, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases and of Biochemistry and Biophysics, was study lead for research that created a designer tau protein. Tau plays an essential role in cells, but in some cases, it forms clumps in the brain, a pathological trait linked to neurodegenerative diseases. The designer tau maintains its biological function while resisting aggregation. Learn how the discovery could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s and other conditions. https://bit.ly/4jdL9iI