Dr. Argye E. Hillis received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Prior to medical training and neurology residency, she trained in the fields of speech-language pathology and cognitive neuropsychology. She also conducted clinical research focusing on understanding and treating aphasia and hemispatial neglect. She has brought these areas of experience to impact her clinical research in neurology, which involves cognitive and neuroimaging studies of aphasia language problems caused by stroke, hemispatial neglect caused by stroke, visual problems after stroke, effects of restoring blood flow on cognitive function, and primary progressive aphasia and other focal dementias.

Now a Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Hillis has joint faculty appointments in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Cognitive Science at the institution. She serves as Deputy Director of the department, Director of the Neurology Residency program, and the co-director of the Cerebrovascular Center.

Dr. Hillis’s current research aims to improve the understanding of how language functions and spatial maps are represented in the brain, and how understanding these processes can contribute to evaluation and treatment of stroke and dementia. She has published extensively on these topics in journals and textbooks. Another area of Dr. Hillis’ current research concerns a disorder known as Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). Some FTD patients have a progressive problem with language function that ultimately interferes with all forms of linguistic communication. Dr. Hillis has published numerous articles on the nature of this disturbance, and how it changes over time in patients with FTD.

Dr. Hillis is Co-Editor-in Chief of Behavioural Neurology and Neurocase, and has served as Associate Editor of Annals of Neurology, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Cognitive Neuropsychology, and Language and Cognitive Processes. She also serves on the editorial boards of Aphasiology and Brain and Language. 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).

Dr. Hillis currently sees patients at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in Baltimore on Fridays.

Certifications:

• American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology