Center for Compulsive Behavior and Addiction
Movement Disorders and Compulsive Behavior Division

Mission Statement

It has become increasingly apparent that patients with Parkinson’s disease and restless leg syndrome can suffer from an extremely troubling treatment related side-effect in which they display compulsivity in a variety of forms that include hyper-sexuality, gambling, shopping, and computer play. This phenomenon is thought to occur most often with dopamine D3 receptor agonist treatments, but likely occurs with other prodopaminergic drugs as well.  This division will focus on understanding the phenomenology of this side effect, understand the brain regions responsible for such effects and develop novel site specific therapies aimed at reducing or eliminating these behaviors.  In this regard, we will first use procedures that quantify impulsivity in humans to develop animal models. Then we will employ site specific blockers to establish the brain regions critical in generating this aberrant behavior. Lastly, we will use our expertise in the cellular and gene delivery to devise novel treatment strategies aimed at maintaining the clinical benefit that these treatments engender while eliminating the compulsive side-effects to which they are associated.

— Jeffrey Kordower, PhD

Division Staff Profiles

Jeffrey H. Kordower, PhD
Dr. Kordower, is the Jean Schweppe-Armour Professor of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Centerin Chicago, Illinois. In 2004, he received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Queen’s College, City University of New York, where he obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate of Neuropsychology and Post-Doctoral degrees. Dr. Kordower has done extensive research and published articles on both Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. He has been a keynote speaker and lecturer at a number of universities and conferences and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. His specialty in movement disorders will contribute to the work we hope to do as part of the Movement Disorders and Compulsive Behaviors Divisions.

Roy A.E. Bakay, MD
Roy A.E. Bakay, MD, is Professor, Vice Chairman and Director of Neurosurgery Research, Department of Neurological Surgery, at Rush University Medical Center. He has held the A. Watson and Sarah Armour III Presidential Chair since 2003. He has published extensively on topics ranging from sophisticated surgical technique to the patho-physiology of Parkinson’s and Epilepsy to various treatment modalities such as Vagal Nerve Stimulation and Deep Brain Stimulation. Dr. Bakay has served as Principal Investigator on a variety of studies ranging from examining gene therapy in early Alzheimer’s disease to feasibility studies of stem cells in CNS transplantation. His expertise as a researcher and a surgeon will be invaluable as we explore the brain’s functioning in addiction and compulsive behaviors and possible ways to better understand and treat those disorders.

Sandra L. Rokosik, PhD candidate
Sandra L. Rokosik is a PhD candidate in the Department of Neurosciences and Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. She currently serves as Vice President of the Graduate Student Council at Loyola University and works in the Napier Lab at Rush University Medical Center. Her publications have focused on behavioral sensitization and responses produced in animal brains from intracranial stimulation.

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