PNI Founders’ Message 2023

by Daniel F. Kelly

Welcome to 2023!

At Pacific Neuroscience Institute®(PNI) we achieved many milestones in 2022 and continue to make positive impacts in neuroscience clinical care, research, and education.

PNI grows, thrives, and receives notable recognition

With PNI Medical Group’s continued growth and expansion across Southern California Providence, we were fortunate to recruit our first Chief Administrative Officer, Christopher Cosgrove, MBA, who joined PNIMG in September 2022.
Our Providence Saint John’s Health Center (Santa Monica) and Little Company of Mary (Torrance) clinic locations thrive, serving patients with the full spectrum of challenging neurological conditions.
While PNI physicians have had a presence at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank in recent years, we formally opened our neuroscience clinics there to provide a wide array of services including neurosurgery, neuro-oncology, neuro-interventional radiology and head & neck cancer care.
Based on Providence Health metrics, PNI’s brain and pituitary surgeries at Providence Saint John’s Health Center and Little Company of Mary have the shortest length of hospital stay in all of Providence, allowing patients to get home sooner and recover more quickly.
Our neuro-oncology network is one of the largest in the country, and our stroke teams lead in thrombectomy times in the Providence system.
PNI stroke experts and our partner hospitals earned the Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll.

Clinical trials, research, and publications

Our PNI clinical trials program continues to offer novel options to patients in several areas including brain tumors, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, stroke, dementia, depression, anxiety and addiction. Additionally, we are helping to raise the standard of care for difficult neurologic diseases such as brain, skull base and pituitary tumors, dementia, and stroke, through multiple key publications and CME events.

Treatment & Research In Psychedelics (TRIP)

The Treatment & Research In Psychedelics (TRIP) program is now in its fourth year and continues to expand both on the patient care and clinical trial fronts. Patients with mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety can be treated with FDA-approved off-label use of ketamine-assisted therapy. In 2022, we completed two clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy with psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms. The first was a pilot trial for alcohol use disorder and Visual Healing and the second was a multicenter clinical trial for major depressive disorder. Both trials were in collaboration with Usona Institute, and results from both trials will be published in early 2023. We also recently launched a third clinical trial for generalized anxiety disorder sponsored by MindMed using a proprietary investigational oral medication, MM-120. We hope to expand our psychedelic clinical trials in 2023 to other conditions such as prolonged grief for those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19, and existential crisis for those with brain tumors and other types of cancer.

PNI Foundation and the Lifestyle Program

The PNI Foundation (PNIF) successfully launched the exciting and innovative Lifestyle Program. Comprehensive educational courses are available in-person and virtually; addressing many memory and lifestyle-related brain health concerns. A broad age range of participants can find classes relevant to issues such as memory, sleep, nutrition, and stress. The lifestyle team, led by Karen Miller, PhD, includes memory experts, brain & lifestyle health coaches, and FitBrain^SM specialists. PNIF continues to be home to clinical trials, research, patient education, community outreach, and administration teams, working in partnership with Saint John’s Health Center Foundation to support PNI’s mission. PNIF sponsored many patient support organizations including those for brain tumors, pituitary disorders, multiple sclerosis, acoustic neuroma, and dystonia.

With gratitude

Philanthropy enables us to develop research and clinical programs leading to expanded access to high-quality innovative care to prevent, diagnose and treat disorders of the brain and nervous system. Our gratitude as always goes to all those who support us through their generosity. Your philanthropy makes our mission possible. We could not achieve much without the expertise and dedication of every single member of our medical, professional, and support teams. We thank you.

Looking ahead

As we look to the year ahead, we aim at growing all our clinical and foundation programs and developing a new concierge brain health program.

We’re ready to take on 2023. Come and join us!

Think Neuro. Think PNI.

Sincerely,
Daniel F. Kelly, MD, Chester F. Griffiths, MD, Howard R. Krauss, MD & Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD

Pacific Neuroscience Institute Founders

Putting your brain care in the most capable hands.

Think Neuro. Think PNI.

Useful links:

Daniel F. Kelly

Daniel F. Kelly, MD, is the Director of the Pacific Brain Tumor and Pituitary Disorders Centers at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. Considered to be one of the top neurosurgeons in the U.S., Dr. Kelly is internationally recognized in the field of minimally invasive keyhole surgery for brain, pituitary and skull base tumors. He continues to focus his efforts on advancing innovative treatments for patients, providing fellowship training in minimally invasive neurosurgery, and patient education and support.

Learn More

Last updated: April 4th, 2024