Medical Staff

Douglas W. Scharre, M.D. (Click here for bio)
Director, Division of Cognitive Neurology
Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology and Psychiatry
Medical Director, Neurobehavior and Memory Disorders Clinics
Medical Director, Forest Hills Center for Alzheimer's
Director, Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Tissue and Cerebrospinal Repository (Brain and CSF tissue banks)

Dr. Scharre received his medical degree from Georgetown University and completed his neurology residency at Letterman Army medical Center in San Francisco. After completing a Neurobehavior fellowship at UCLA, he joined the OSU faculty in the Department of Neurology in 1993. Dr. Scharre is a board-certified neurologist with special interests in dementia-related behaviors and degenerative dementias.

Dr. Scharre's conducts clinical research in dementia and mild cognitive impairment that have been funded by NIH, foundations, and industry. He has many active grants including clinical drug trials using cognitive enhancers and behavioral therapies, functional neuroimaging studies using SPECT and MRI, and screening for mild cognitive impairment and early dementia diagnosis. He has published journal papers, book chapters, and abstracts in the area of cognitive neurology including dementia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, chorea-acanthocytosis, frontal lobe disorders, inherited neurologic disorders, visual agnosia, and optic aphasia. He has published on the neuropsychiatric aspects of neoplastic, demyelinating, infectious, and inflammatory diseases of the brain, on biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease including beta-amyloid protein and tau protein, on functional neuroimaging with SPECT scanning, and on treatment of behavioral disturbances in dementia. He lectures frequently on topics of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, behavioral management of dementia, and other aspects of cognitive neurology.

Maria Kataki, M.D., Ph. D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology (Click here for bio)

Dr Kataki received her medical degree from the National University of Athens, Medical School, completed a Neurology Residency and PhD at the National University of Athens, Department of  Neurology in Greece, and a Neurology Residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Dr Kataki was awarded several awards during her clinical training including “The Loren Rolak award for the best on line case publication in Neurology” Baylor College of Medicine 2003. 
Dr Kataki was awarded a fellowship in Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia at Baylor College of Medicine and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Houston, Texas. She then joined the OSU faculty in the Department of Neurology in 2004. Dr Kataki is a board-certified neurologist with special interests and subspecialty training in Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and behavioral neurology.
Dr Kataki has published papers, book chapters, and abstracts in the area of Alzheimer’s disease, behavioral neurology, functional imaging in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, clinical manifestations of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease and other Central Nervous System Infections, clinical manifestations of general neurological conditions, applications of MEG in surgical treatment of Epilepsy, and treatment of neurological diseases using functional neurosurgery.
Dr Kataki has been involved in multiple clinical trials and research projects. She lectures on topics of Alzheimer’s disease and Behavioral Neurology and she often presents in national and international meetings.
She is currently developing the pharmacogenomics project in Dementia in collaboration with the department of  Pharmacology, Dr Sadee working in identifying haplotypes of several genes in brain tissue and organizing a data base for the Buckey brain bank.

Rebecca A. Davis, R.N., L.I.S.W.
Counseling Specialist

Rebecca Davis received both a B.S. in nursing and an M.S.W. from The Ohio State University. She specializes in working with neuro-behavioral disordered patients and their caregivers. Ms. Davis formerly worked at the Central Ohio Alzheimer's Association as a nurse consultant and clinical social worker. She has designed and conducted numerous training programs concerning the care of dementia patients.

Nancy Thaedo-Miller, M.S.N., R.N., C.S., C.N.P.
Nurse Practitioner

Research Staff

Jennifer Ferguson, B.A.
Clinical Research Manager

Jennifer Ferguson received her bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Science from The Ohio State University in 1997. She began conducting clinical trials for The Memory Disorders Clinic in August 1997 and has been involved in over 50 clinical trials. Her areas of research interest include Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia behaviors.

Jennifer Knick, B.A.
Research Associate

Jennifer Knick has worked at the Memory Disorders Clinic for over five years coordinating clinical trials and performing psychometric testing. She has a degree in psychology from Kent State University. She has a special interest in home modifications.

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