Neelum Aggarwal, MD, is a board-certified cognitive neurologist, clinical trialist and professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center. She is the Senior Examining Neurologist for the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center Clinical Core and the Cardiology Cognitive Clinic at the Rush Heart Center for Women, where she also serves as the Center’s Research Director. Aggarwal’s clinical interests lie in the diagnosis and clinical management of people experiencing changes in cognitive function, mild cognitive, vascular cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. She serves as the Rush Steering Committee member and Site principal investigator for multiple NIH-funded consortium-led clinical trials in cognition and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. (http://keck.usc.edu/atri and http://www.adcs.org). Her recent research interests include identifying how social determinants of health, cardiovascular disease and other novel risk factors for cognitive impairment — including sex and gender differences — may lead to strategies to prevent cognitive decline and dementia in women, minorities and older adults.
Aggarwal is co-investigator and neurologist for the MIND Study (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay - http://mind-diet-trial.org) and Co-Principal Investigator for the Chicago-based Community Engagement for Early Recognition and Immediate Action in Stroke (CEERIAS) grant, a study that addresses the socioeconomic, race/ethnicity and sex and gender disparities in stroke awareness, barriers to health care access in Chicago’s minority communities.
Aggarwal was appointed as the first Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer for the American Medical Women’s Association; is chair of the Mentoring, Advisors, Peers and Sponsorship Committee of Women in Bio (Chicago); and is Vice Chair of the Governing Council of the AMA-Women’s Physician Section. She serves as a frequent grant and journal reviewer, having published over 60 articles in peer reviewed journals. Aggarwal was awarded the 2016 Women in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association, is a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, the American Medical Women’s Association and Founding member of the Women Against Alzheimer’s Disease Network. She is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Academy of Neurology, American Medical Association and Chicago Medical Society. She is also an active member of the American Heart Association, and its Go Red for Women movement, serving on the Steering committee for Chicago’s Go Red STEM Initiative. Aggarwal completed her medical degree from Chicago Medical School, her residency in Neurology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and an Aging and Neurodegenerative disorders fellowship at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center.