Rhonna Shatz, DO

Rhonna Shatz is the Medical Director of the Memory Disorders Center and the Bob and Sandy Heimann Chair in Research and Education of Alzheimer’s Disease. She is a UCNS-certified (United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties) behavioral neurologist who came to Cincinnati after 25 years at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit, where she was the Clayton Alandt Chair of Behavioral Neurology.

She has received numerous Alzheimer’s Association awards for service and innovation, Best Teacher awards from residents and medical students, and was designated a “Best Doctor” and a “Top Doc” in Hour Detroit for her last 14 years in that city. As a 23-year volunteer and member of the Greater Michigan Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, she served as Chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee, Chair of the Executive Board, and lectured to both professional and patient/caregiver support groups.

Dr. Shatz is dedicated to the expansion of Alzheimer’s Association expert services and support for everyone with a diagnosis of dementia. She helped initiate a special memory clinic-Alzheimer’s Association collaborative in Detroit, where Alzheimer’s Association social workers work alongside physicians, nurse practitioners and caregivers to evaluate and treat patients. With the aid of an Always Events® Challenge grant, she initiated the first step in her goal to enable healthcare systems to focus on long-term brain health and the prevention of dementia – incorporating regular cognitive assessments and dementia risk factor control as part of routine primary care.

Her prior NIH-funded research includes an investigation of the genetic and vascular factors underlying the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in African-Americans, as well as numerous clinical drug trials. Dr. Shatz’ current research centers on inflammatory mechanisms in dementia and the creation of population-based brain health initiatives.

Dedicated to training and inspiring the next generation of students to grow up to become behavioral neurologists, Dr. Shatz teaches as a University of Cincinnati Professor and oversees the UCNS-certified Behavioral Neurology Fellowship.