Dr. Gail Eskes improves the lives of people with brain disorders
Neuropsychologist Dr. Gail Eskes investigates how to improve mental abilities through rehabilitation. She focuses on attention and memory, with the goal of improving people’s daily lives.
The associate professor at Dalhousie Medical School studies people’s mental abilities, using a combination of brain imaging and tests that measure memory and attention. She and her colleagues look at how mental abilities break down after a stroke, what problems result and whether the problems can be addressed through rehabilitation.
“We hope to find consistent patterns in what helps people to improve their memory and attention,” explains Dr. Eskes. “We can then apply this knowledge to develop rehabilitation methods that help people living with a range of brain disorders.”
This process has already started. Dr. Eskes and her colleagues study a new “memory group,” which they developed to help people who have had a stroke improve their ability to remember. Participants meet once a week for eight weeks to learn about memory and how to improve it through exercises, discussion and practice. “This rehabilitation method is based on the newest techniques and shows good results,” she says.
An exciting part of this work for Dr. Eskes is the direct connection to patients, and the opportunity to apply research findings almost immediately. “I present our findings to colleagues,” she notes, “so they can begin using what we have learned in their work with patients.”
The future is bright for this emerging field of research. “Rehabilitation of cognitive abilities is a relatively new field,” Dr. Eskes says. “It’s showing exciting progress thanks in part to improved brain imaging and our ability to see the brain working.”