Ochsner Health is building a new, state-of-the-art neuroscience center in New Orleans. Dr. C.J. Bui is system chair of neurology and co-director of the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute. He says it will offer a combination of critically renowned programs available at only a few facilities in the world.
“We don’t have anything comparable in this region between Houston and Atlanta,” Bui says.
Ochsner says the center is being built thanks to a generous private gift from Robert and Debra Patrick. It will treat diseases of the spine, nerves, and brain, such as epilepsy, movement disorders, and cognitive impairment.
He says the new center will serve as Ochsner‘s flagship center for neuroscience programs and educate the next generation of specialists.
But Bui says the main reason the Robert J and Debra H Patrick Neuroscience Center is being built is because of the growing need as people live longer. Bui says as we live longer, more of us will be impacted by neurological diseases.
“From common problems such as back pain to life-altering issues such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to even life-threatening things like strokes and brain tumors,” he says.
Bui says the World Health Organization estimates that neurological disorders in one form or another will impact more than a billion people worldwide.
The center is being funded totally with private donations. Groundbreaking will be in 2023 and it’s expected to be open to begin treating patients in 2025. Bui says the need is so great it can’t come soon enough.
“Louisiana and the Gulf coast region needs this facility probably more than ever because we have a disproportionally higher disease burden than anywhere else in the country,” he adds.
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