Cleveland Clinic signs on with Lou Ruvo Brain Institute

The city of Las Vegas has flirted with the nation's premier academic medical centers for years.

That courtship finally has produced a long-term relationship.

Under an agreement between one of the world's best-known institutes of medicine and medical research and the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, the Cleveland Clinic will staff and operate a brain center in Las Vegas.

The brain center, dubbed the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, will be housed inside the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute at Bonneville Avenue and Grand Central Parkway.

The center's clinical practice might begin seeing patients by midsummer.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said having the Cleveland Clinic, especially within the Union Park development, is the perfect marriage for Las Vegas.

"We're going to be a new city,'' said Goodman on Monday, referring to today's scheduled news conference announcing the partnership.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Gov. Jim Gibbons and other leaders are expected to attend. Representatives from the Cleveland Clinic, who have been in negotiations with the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute since November, also will be at the event.

"We're now in the major leagues as far as medicine is concerned,'' Goodman said. "The marriage between the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and the Cleveland Clinic is so special to me. I love major league sports, but this is ten times greater."

Dr. Michael Modic, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic's Neurological Institute, called the brain center the first dedicated neurological facility outside of Ohio that the Cleveland Clinic has been affiliated with.

In January, the Cleveland Clinic opened a Center for Brain Health on its campus to complement its neurological institute. That center is seeing about four new patients each week. The hope is to treat between 300 and 400 patients at that facility annually, said Dr. Randy Schiffer, director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Brain Health.

It is anticipated the Las Vegas brain center will treat up to 300 patients per year, Schiffer said.

"Alzheimer's and its related disorders may be the major public health problem of the 21st century,'' he said. "To have two sites, one in the Southwest and one that's here, is very important and is an advantage over other Alzheimer's programs across the country. It gives us depth and an opportunity to see a greater number of patients."

The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, which was designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, is dedicated to fighting memory disorders and diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

The institute was started by Larry Ruvo, a Las Vegas businessman whose father, Lou, died of Alzheimer's.

Two years ago, the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute brought in nationally recognized Zaven Khachaturian as president and chief executive officer. Khachaturian was the former director of the Chicago-based Nancy Reagan Research Institute and has received national and international acclaim for his work in dementia-related illnesses.

Khachaturian has called Alzheimer's and other cognitive disorders a major public health problem because of the growth in the nation's aging population.

Nevada has a particular problem because it has the fastest-growing segment of the 65-and-older age group. The prevalence of cognitive brain disorders has grown by 200 percent in the past few years. Added to Nevada's problems is the problem of inadequate medical and social services.

The goal is to find ways to detect the disease early and either prevent or delay brain disorders.

From a public health standpoint, delaying Alzheimer's would be an enormous benefit because the disease is costly, requiring around-the-clock care. The direct and indirect costs of caring for individuals with the disease are estimated at $100 billion annually, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Schiffer, a psychiatrist and neurologist, said the Cleveland Clinic's approach toward the treatment of Alzheimer's and other cognitive disorders is multifaceted and recognizes that the brain's processes, such as thinking, attention, learning and memory, must be part of any treatment plan. Exercise and monitoring a person's cardiovascular risk problems are other factors.

"Use it or lose it; that's your brain,'' Schiffer said about treating neurological brain disorders. "That's why these centers are so important. We work on everything at once."

Dr. Charles Bernick, named medical director of the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute a few years ago, will remain with the facility but will be employed by the Cleveland Clinic. Bernick is a professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and considered a leader in the field of neurology.

"Medicine is a team sport,'' Modic said. "We plan to have affiliations with all the local health care providers to create a very strong medical community.''

At least six physicians would work out of Las Vegas. Although some personnel will relocate from Cleveland to Las Vegas, Modic said the facility is in the process of hiring.

"Our goal is to create a national, and ultimately global, brain center,'' he said. "What will the people in Las Vegas see? They'll find a state-of-the-art facility staffed by fairly well-known Cleveland Clinic physicians and researchers with the primary purpose of taking care of patients and their families."

Contact reporter Annette Wells at awells@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.