Tamara G. Fong M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Scientist, Aging Brain Center, Institute for Aging Research
Instructor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School.

Contact Information

Institute for Aging Research
1200 Centre Street
Boston, MA 02131

Phone: 617-971-5319
Fax: 617-971-5309
email: tamarafong@hsl.harvard.edu or tfong@bidmc.harvard.edu

Links

PubMed Articles

Research Interests and Teaching Activities

Dr. Fong's area of clinical expertise is cognitive disorders related to aging, including dementia and delirium.  Throughout her career, she has made significant contributions and advances in patient care and research. Her goal and the main focus of her work is to reveal causes and advance treatments of cognitive decline and dementia. Her clinical activities includes an  outpatient clinic in the Cognitive Neurology Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she evaluates and treats patients with Alzheimer's disease, diffuse Lewy body disease, fronto-temporal dementia, vascular dementia, and mild cognitive impairment.

Dr. Fong's investigative work was born from her many years of clinical experience.  Her major research project is recognized and supported by a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging.  The main focus of the project is to use pharmacologic MRI to study the cholinergic system in aging and cognitive disorders.  In addition, Dr. Fong has conducted a SPECT imaging study in delirious patients (Journal of Gerontology, 2006), a study demonstrating the negative impact of delirium on cognitive trajectory in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (Neurology, 2009, featured article), and a study comparing two widely used dementia screening tests (Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2009).  She has recently published a new, brief cognitive screening test, the Sweet 16 (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011).

Dr. Fong was promoted to Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School in 2010. She teaches clinical didactics to a broad range of trainees on topics ranging from the neurological examination in the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course for second year medical students to bedside and didactic sessions covering aspects of neurology and cognitive neurology for third and fourth year medical students, residents and fellows on the Neurology consult service.  She has lectured on topics including delirium care in the elderly, outpatient evaluation and diagnosis of dementia, and treatment strategies in dementia.

Keywords
Delirium, Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, Lewy body disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Mild Cognitive Impairment

Selected Publications

1. Fong TG, Neff NH, Hadjiconstantinou M.  Systemic administration of GM1 ganglioside increases choline acetyltransferase activity in the brain of aged rats. Exp Neurol 1995;132:157-161
2. Fong TG, Vogelsberg V, Neff NH, Hadjiconstantinou M.  GM1 and NGF synergism on choline acetyltransferase and choline uptake in aged brain. Neurobiol of Aging 1995; 16:917-923
3. Fong TG, Neff NH, and Hadjiconstantinou M. GM1 ganglioside improves spatial learning and memory in aged rats. Behav Brain Res 1996; 85:203-211
4. Vogelsberg V, Fong TG, Neff NH, and Hadjiconstantinou M.    Cholinergic deficits in aged rat spinal cord:  restoration by GM1 ganglioside.  Brain Res 1997;761:250-256
5. Goettl VM, Wemlinger TA, Fong TG, Neff NH, and Hadjiconstantinou M.  Retinal cholinergic and dopaminergic deficits of aged rats are improved following treatment with GM1 ganglioside.  Brain Res 2000; 877:1-6
6. Fong TG, Bogardus ST Jr., Daftary A, Auerbach E, Blumenfeld H, Modur S, Leo-Summers L, Seibyl J, and Inouye SK.  Cerebral perfusion changes in older delirious patients using 99mTc HMPAO SPECT. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2006; 61:1294-299
7. Alsop DC, Fearing MA, Johnson K, Sperling R, Fong TG and Inouye SK.  The role of neuro-imaging in elucidating delirium pathophysiology. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2006; 61:1287-1293
8. Alsop, D.C., Casement M., de Bazelaire C., Fong T, Press, DZ. Hippocampal hyperperfusion in Alzheimer's disease. NeuroImage 2008; 42:1267-74
9. Hshieh TT, Fong TG, Marcantonio ER and Inouye SK.  Cholinergic deficiency hypothesis in delirium:  a synthesis of current evidence.  J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2008 Jul; 63(7): 764-72
10. Marcantonio ER, Aneja J, Jones RN, Alsop DC, Fong TG, Crosby GJ, Culley DJ, Cupples LA, Inouye SK. Maximizing Clinical Research Participation in Vulnerable Older Persons: Identification of Barriers and Motivators. J Am Geriatr Soc 2008; 56:1522-7
11. Fong TG, Tulebaev SR, Inouye SK.  Delirium in elderly adults:  diagnosis, prevention and treatment.  Nat Rev Neurol 2009; 5: 210-220
12. Fong TG, Jones RN, Shi P, Marcantonio ER, Yap L, Rudolph JL, Yang FM, Kiely DK, Inouye SK.  Delirium accelerates cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.   Neurology 2009; 72: 1570- 1575
13. Fong TG, Fearing MA, Jones RN, Shi P, Marcantonio ER, Rudolph JL, Yang FM, Kiely DK, Inouye SK.  The telephone interview for cognitive status:  creating a crosswalk with the Mini-Mental State Exam.  Alzheimer and Dement 2009, Nov. 5(6): 492-7.
14. Jones RN, Fong TG, Metzger E, Tulebaev S, Yang FM, Alsop DC, Marcantonio ER, Cupples LA, Gottlieb G, Inouye SK.  Aging Brain Disease and Reserve:  Implications for Delirium.  Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2010, Feb. 18(2): 117-27
15. Rudolph JL, Inouye SK, Jones RN, Yang FM, Fong TG, Levkoff SE, Marcantonio ER.  Delirium: an independent predictor of functional decline after cardiac surgery.  J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010 Apr;58(4):643-9.
16. Jones RN, Rudolph JL, Inouye SK, Yang FM, Fong TG, Milberg WP, Tommet D, Metzger ED, Adrienne Cupples L, Marcantonio ER. Development of a unidimensional composite measure of neuropsychological functioning in older cardiac surgery patients with good measurement precision.  J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2010 May 4:1-9.
17. Rudolph JL, Zanin NM, Jones RN, Marcantonio ER, Fong TG, Yang FM, Yap L, Inouye SK. Hospitalization in Community-Dwelling Persons with Alzheimer's Disease: Frequency and Causes. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010 Jun 9.
18. Fong TG, Inouye SK, Dai W, Press DZ, Alsop DC. Association cortex hypoperfusion in mild Dementia With Lewy Bodies: A potential indicator of cholinergic dysfunction? 2011 Mar;5(1):25-35.
19. Fong TG, Jones RN, Rudolph JL, Yang FM, Tommet D, Habtemariam D, Marcantonio ER, Langa KM, Inouye SK. Development and Validation of a Brief Cognitive Assessment Tool:  The Sweet 16. Arch Intern Med. 2010 Nov 8. [Epub ahead of print]